The Secrets We Keep
by Mysterious One D
Summary: This is a continuation from the end of the series.  Nabiki has a problem and there is only one person she can turn to for help.  Unfortunately that one person is Ranma, and he's more than a little busy trying to deal with the fallout from the wedding.
1. Nabiki

Author's Notes: Welcome to the start of the first fic I've published on this site. I hope you'll stick around long enough to give this a fair go and perhaps even a review if you are so inclined. I have no idea how often I'll get around to uploading new chapters as my current schedule is a bit chaotic, but hopefully you'll bear with me. This story does take place after the end of the manga (I`m not that familiar with the anime) as a continuation of sorts and the characters contained within, with the exception of a few original characters, are my take on the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. If they seem different then how they are in the manga or anime that is because I am writing MY interpretation of how the characters think, act and react. That being said true believers in the Ranma/Akane pairing should probably turn back now as I have no intention of going that route. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Nabiki didn't want to do this. She really didn't want to do this. She was the Ice Queen of Furinkan High, she could handle anything that comes her way. Except this time she couldn't. She had to ask HIM for help. Since the wedding disaster things have been very tense around the house. Any little thing could send Akane flying off the handle, and Ranma has been extremely quiet lately. The morning sparring sessions with Genma rarely lasted more than a few minutes, and Ranma barely said a word during them. It goes without saying that Ranma and Akane weren't speaking.

Now she needed his help. Climbing out onto the roof she spotted Ranma in his usual place. Shivering slightly from the cool night air, Nabiki didn't bother announcing herself, she knew Ranma could tell who it was.

"I need a favor." Nabiki said as she sat down next to Ranma.

"Hmm?" Ranma looked curiously over at the middle Tendo. It was rare, almost unheard of for Nabiki, to ask for anything. He could almost appreciate this independent attitude if it didn't end up, more often than not, with him owing her large amounts of money.

"Since when does Nabiki Tendo need help from me?" Normally Ranma would say yes to just about anyone asking him a favor, but seeing as how this was Nabiki he wanted to know what exactly he would be in for.

"I'm in trouble." This was all she could get out now. It hurt her pride having to admit weakness. She built her whole reputation as the Ice Queen on not showing any weakness. She stood there shivering and trying to get the information out.

"You look cold Nabiki" Ranma said as he handed her his red silk shirt. "It ain't real warm, but it's better than nothing right?"

Nabiki took the proffered shirt as she once again pondered the puzzle that was Ranma Saotome. Sometimes he could be incredibly kind and thoughtful, others he was childish and dense as a brick wall. It wasn't hard for Nabiki to see why he had so many girls after him. He was attractive, kind, and had a really cute butt. Nabiki shook these thoughts from her head. This was a business meeting, plain and simple. There was no room for such thoughts at a business meeting. She took a deep breath and started in on why she needed help.

"You remember last week when you fought that blonde girl, Karin Kanzuki?" Nabkiki asked.

Ranma scrunched his eyebrows together and looked off into the distance as he thought back to the different fights he had last week.

"Let's see… Last week there was the martial arts karaoke and that martial arts calligraphy guy again, man was that guy annoying…"

Nabiki watched him as he thought back over the events of the past week. She couldn't help smiling a little and thinking to herself that he did look kind of cute when he thought real hard, even if he is an ego maniac jock with more brawn than brains. She mentally slapped herself for going back to those thoughts, and wondered why she couldn't focus tonight.

Suddenly Ranma sat up and snapped his fingers. "Yeah, I remember her now. Man, that chick was more macho than Akane! I didn't think that was possible!"

He turned and looked at Nabiki with a quizzical expression. "What's that fight got to do with anything? I beat her of course, and I can do it again so what's the problem"

"The problem Ranma, is the fact that you did beat her" Nabiki started.

"Huh?" At this point in the conversation Ranma was completely lost.

Nabiki smiled to herself, she loved playing mind games with other people. Then she shook her head to clear away such thoughts. There was no time for that now. "Listen Ranma, the fight between you and Karin Kanzuki happened so fast I didn't have time to do any research on her. If I had I would have found out that her father is Ken Kanzuki, the biggest yakuza boss in Japan."

"I still don't get it Nabiki. So what if her Pop's a gangster? If he wants to fight me I'll just beat him up like any other guy who challenges me."

"You don't understand Ranma. You beat up his daughter and I made money off of it. We embarrassed his family and made him look weak. He doesn't just want to beat you up, he wants to kill us."

Ranma merely shrugged his shoulders at this. "Do you have any idea how many death threats I get in a week? Heck, I'm already up to six death threats and it's only Tuesday!"

Greater than any martial arts technique was Ranma's ability to say and do all the right things to really tick someone off. Nabiki wanted to smack Ranma but she knew it would have about the same effect as hitting a brick wall.

"I said he wants to kill US" Nabiki said "US. As in you AND me. And this guy isn't just a martial artist, he's a yakuza boss. He doesn't even have to do anything himself. He's a Yakuza boss, he's got enough money to pay someone to kill us. "

Ranma became serious for once. "What do you want me to do?"

"I need a bodyguard. I want you to be my bodyguard and keep me safe, until I figure out a way to get out of this situation."

Ranma thought about this for a moment. Since he had arrived at the Tendo household he had faced nothing but trouble. Jealous rivals, insane challengers, and more fiancés than anyone had a right to. His relationship with the Tendos was more or less constant. Soun schemed with his Pops for some way to get him and Akane married, Kasumi kept the house in order and did the cooking, Nabiki blackmailed and extorted what little money he managed to scrounge up, and Akane yelled at him or hit him whenever he did something she didn't like. Through it all it the only thing keeping him from leaving was his own sesne of honor and duty, and it was this honor that ultimately made the decision for him. It was his duty as a martial artist to help those who asked for it whoever they may be. Ranma Saotome couldn't and wouldn`t leave anyone in trouble.

"I'll do it." Ranma said

Inwardly Nabiki gave a little sigh of relief. After everything she had done to him, she wasn't sure Ranma would actually help her.

"I'll do it," Ranma repeated "but you gotta do something for me."

Nabiki cringed inside. She was hoping Ranma would simply help her without asking questions like he normally did. On the outside she remained as cool and calm as ever. "Alright, what is it you want?"

"No more pictures." Ranma said "I'm sick and tired of you feeding peoples' obsessions with my girl side. And no more pictures of Akane either. Kuno's crazy enough as it is without you feeding him those pictures."

Nabiki frowned and thought for a moment. The picture business was basically only one client, Tatewaki Kuno, but the money he paid for them was a substantial part of her income. These thoughts were only fleeting though, as she really had no other choice. Coming into this she knew she would have to accept Ranma's terms whatever they may be.

"Fine." She said "No more pictures of you or Akane. In exchange, you'll be my bodyguard until I can figure a way out this situation with Ken Kanzuki."

She extended her hand for a handshake and Ranma took it. It was then that he noticed that her hand was ice cold and shaking.

"Geez! Nabiki you're freezing!" He exclaimed. "C`mere." He put his arm around her and drew her closer to himself..

Nabiki started to resist out of habit, but stopped when she felt the warmth of his arms around her. Despite the fact that he was wearing less clothing than she was he felt incredibly warm. From her new position, she looked up at Ranma with a questioning look. "What are you doing?"

"I've been working on this new technique." He said "It`s kinda the opposite of the soul of ice. Instead of keeping my ki cold, I'm making it hot"

Nabiki's instincts for self-reliance and independence were all telling her to break Ranma's embrace and go back inside, but he was warm and comfortable. So instead she asked another question. "Why is it always martial arts with you? You never do anything but practice your next technique."

Ranma shrugged while still keeping his arm around Nabiki. "It's all I really know. One of my earliest memories is doing balance exercises with Pops. Now that I met Mom I kinda remember her from earlier in my life, but that's real hazy. Basically, I grew up with Pops training in martial arts. Everything was martial arts training. Even meal times, when we had something to eat, was training. I've never known anything but martial arts."

Nabiki gave no reply to Ranma's explanation save for a small snore as she had fallen asleep. Ranma decided the wisest course of action was to simply remain put for now. It was only a few moments later when a noise roused the slumbering Nabiki. Confused for a moment as to where she was she failed to notice the fact that she was still leaning up against Ranma and still wearing his shirt. Her mental faculties only kicked into full gear as the source of the noise revealed itself to be Akane noisily climbing onto the roof.

"I was looking for you Ranma" Akane said in an irritated tone "Kasumi told me to tell you that the bath was ready…"

The scene that greeted Akane on the roof was not at all what she expected. Akane drifted off mid-sentence as her mind stalled when she noticed that Ranma and Nabiki of all people were sitting next to each other. And Nabiki was even wearing Ranma's shirt. Akane's mind immediately jumped to the only possible conclusion, that Ranma and Nabiki were doing something PERVERTED on the roof. Her vivid imagination ran wild as she mentally conjured up scenarios in which Nabiki would be wearing Ranma's clothes.

Nabiki could see the wheels turning in her younger sister's head, and decided to try to head off her sister's thoughts before they went to pervert territory.

"Akane, Ranma and I were just having a little business discussion. I got cold and Ranma offered me his shirt. That's all. Nothing else happened."

Try as she might though it was too little too late.

"Pervert!" Akane said pointing a finger at Ranma accusingly "You were trying to seduce Nabiki weren't you?" And without even bothering to listen for a response Akane angrily made her way back inside.

Ranma simply sighed, having gotten used to his fiancé's outbursts, and made his own way inside. He would have to somehow make it up to Akane soon, but that could wait for another day. Ranma decided to take his bath and head to bed before the fat panda could steal all his blankets.

And thus Nabiki was left with little choice, but to head inside herself and try to figure out how she could potentially defuse this volatile situation. She knew from experience that Akane would not be willing to listen to any type of reason at least until the morning, and so she resolved to straighten things out then. Probably on the way to school when Akane would have nowhere to go and no chance to escape the reasonable explanation for what she saw. Nabiki didn't hold out much hope that her hotheaded younger sister would actually listen.

End Notes: Thank you to anyone who has made it this far and not already turned back. If you liked this chapter please review it. If you didn't like this chapter please review it anyways. I'm always looking to improve on my writing.

Mysterious One D

Edit: Someone pointed out that I had Ranma giving Nabiki his shirt twice in the course of one conversation, and upon closer inspection of this chapter I found a few places that could use some polishing. I fixed the error with the shirt and made a few changes here and there. Nothing major to affect plot or character development. I also want to point out that the ki warming technique Ranma is working on is only related to the soul of ice in terms of temperature. It has nothing to do with his emotional state.


	2. Just a normal day in Nerima

Author's Notes: Okay here is the second chapter to this story. It's a little slow right now, but hopefully things will pick up in the next few chapters. Once again, I don't know how often I will update with new chapters as my schedule is chaotic and hard to predict. I'll do my best to stay regular, but no promises. All the characters contained within belong to Rumiko Takahashi and all the respective owners of the Ranma 1/2 franchise. I am simply using the characters in a non-profit way as a source of amusement. This is my take on the characters created in the series, nothing more and nothing less. Please enjoy the following chapter.

Chapter 2

The next day Nabiki did something she tried to avoid at all costs, she walked to school with Ranma and Akane. The usual banter between Akane and Ranma was gone, replaced with a heavy, suffocating silence. Ranma, like any other morning, was walking along the fence next to the water and Akane walked along the ground a few paces ahead of Ranma. Nabiki walked a few paces behind her sister, alongside Ranma. After they had walked a sufficient distance from the house, and were still a ways from Furinkan high, Nabiki decided to bring up the subject of the previous night.

She didn't want to of course, but sometimes a person has to do things they really do not want to do. She gathered up her courage and started to speak.

"So Akane, about last night…" Nabiki started

"What about last night?" Akane said coldly, not bothering to even look back at her older sister.

"Look, Ranma and I were just discussing a business deal. It was cold and so Ranma gave me his jacket, and then I kind of dozed off. But that's it. Nothing else happened. Ranma wasn't trying to seduce me. It was all a simple misunderstanding."

"Uh-huh" Akane said, still staring straight ahead and giving no indication as to whether she believed the story or not.

Nabiki was at a loss. Usually when Akane got like this she just stayed out of her way for a few days until she calmed down. Of course, Nabiki never needed to defend herself like this. She looked up at Ranma hoping his experience might be able to set things right. And amazingly enough Ranma, for once, seemed to take the hint.

"Hey, uh, Akane?" Ranma started. Akane just kept walking with her face forward and gave no indication she heard, or planned to acknowledge, Ranma at all.

Ranma continued on apparently assuming that Akane really was listening.

"So, uh, listen. Me and Nabiki, that is, we got a business deal. And that's all it is. Just business. And, uh, we got something to do after school, so don't, you know, wait up for me after school or nothing."

"As if I would." Akane, who apparently had been listening, retorted.

"Well you usually do." Ranma said without thinking.

Akane stopped so suddenly that Nabiki almost ran into her. She turned and without a word punched the fence so hard that the section that Ranma was currently walking on fell into the water. This of course took Ranma with it. She emerged only a moment later female, soggy, and pissed off.

"What'd you do that for?"

"PERVERT!" was all Akane said before running the rest of the way to school.

"Well, that could have gone better." Nabiki remarked dryly.

"Gee, ya think?" Ranma said "I need some hot water now."

"Get some from the nurse when we get to school. We'll be late otherwise."

"Fine, let's go."

And the two continued on towards Furinkan High School.

School passed normally enough. Nabiki tended to business between classes and during the lunch period. Akane spent her day as far away from Ranma as her class schedule would allow. And Ranma spent his day goofing with Hiroshi and Daisuke. All in all, it was a quiet day for Furinkan High.

It was this very quiet that was driving Ranma crazy. It was later in the afternoon, and Ranma was walking with Nabiki. He had met her outside of the school gates and they were walking in the general direction of the Tendo home. Though he was walking beside Nabiki, his attention was elsewhere. Every little sound caused Ranma to think that something was going to happen.

Nabiki noticed Ranma's agitation. "Would you calm down Ranma. You're making me jumpy."

"Sorry Nabiki. It's just, something doesn't feel right. I haven't been attacked, or threateed, or hit by a bicycle all day."

"And that's a bad thing?" Nabiki questioned.

"No, I mean yes, I mean I dunno. It's just my gut's telling me that something is gonna happen." Ranma sighed

Nabiki just shook her head. "Ranma, just because it's too quiet today doesn't mean anything is going to happen."

As if on cue four men suddenly appeared a little ways in front of them. All four were very big, each easily topping six feet in height and very broad at the shoulders. All four wore dark suits, tinted sunglasses, and had shaved heads.

"I forgot." Nabiki said "This is Nerima. The most idiotic stuff happens here."

She was less than impressed. After witnessing the great majority of Ranma's fights she had begun to get a feel for strong challengers. Despite their fearsome appearance, Nabiki's critical eye and experience told her that these men were not as threatening as they looked.

"Are you Nabiki Tendo?" One of the men asked.

"She fits the description." Another man said.

"You made a lot of money off our boss. We're here to take it back." The third man put in.

"By force." The fourth man added.

Nabiki sighed and turned to Ranma. "YOU were the one that wanted something to happen. I was perfectly happy with a nice quiet day."

"Right." Ranma said with his trademark grin "A fight is just what I need."

Nabiki turned to Ranma, clearly frustrated with his attitude. "First it's too quiet, now you're excited when I'm threatened by Yakuza enforcers. What is wrong with you? Why does everything have to come down to violence with you?"

"Well whaddaya want me to do?" Ranma asked "Just let them do what they want with you?"

"Fine" Nabiki sighed "You can beat the snot out of them. Just make it quick."

"Not too quick I hope." Ranma said as he cracked his knuckles and advanced towards the men.

The thugs themselves listened to the exchange with great confusion. They weren't used to people acting so nonchalant at their not so subtle threats to their targets' health and continued well-being. Not that they hadn't been in the enforcer business for long. They each had just recently graduated from crime school showing great promise as future thugs for hire. They were well aware that they were intimidating, and they took great pains to be intimidating. Each one of them could bench press over two hundred and fifty pounds. Of course this meant little to a martial artist of Ranma's caliber, but as they were new to the Nerima area they had no idea who Ranma Saotome was. They were about to find out.

The four thugs were grouped close together so the first thing Ranma did was separate them. Thug number one got a palm strike to the chest that had him reeling backwards. Ranma transitioned from a palm strike to a spinning backhand to thug number two which sent him in a different direction. Thug number four was quick on his feet and took a swing at Ranma as he was busy with number two. The punch only hit air as Ranma had dropped into a leg sweep for thug three, and then from the ground Ranma flipped up with a kick to thug four's chin that sent him flying.

Nabiki had seen most of Ranma's fights, and knew very well what Ranma was capable of when he got going. So it was to her surprise that she could actually follow Ranma's movements. She figured he must be holding back to prolong the fight as much as possible. And in the few seconds it took her to think this through thugs one to three had gotten back up and were advancing on Ranma with threats of violence in their eyes. At this point Nabiki almost began to pity them, almost.

As the three men advanced on him, number four was still shaking off the effects of the kick, Ranma simply adopted a loose defensive stance.

Old training habits kicked in and Ranma taunted the thugs. "C'mon guys I know a granny who moves faster then you." Of course it didn't really occur to Ranma that Cologne was far from anybody's typical idea of a granny.

The three thugs took the bait and once again charged at Ranma. To their credit they actually fought pretty well as a team. Their punches were well coordinated, and when one was attacking the other were defending. Unfortunately for them, Ranma was leagues above them in terms of skill, speed, and power. Every punch was blocked, redirected, or simply dodged. Ranma let the fight go on for a while. The three thugs wore themselves out, while Ranma himself barely broke a sweat. Though Ranma was never the most patient person even in the best of circumstances, and he eventually struck out three times in rapid succession. Each blow made a quick end of one the attacking thugs.

While this was going, the fourth thug had slowly recovered, and had come to his senses enough to pull out his gun. He carefully watched the fight going on, and waited for his moment to strike. His moment came just after Ranma dispatched the three other thugs. He only had time to fire off one shot before a large, heavy object collided with his skull.

"Just can't stay out of trouble can you Ranchan?" Ukyo called while posing dramatically atop the downed thug.

"Uh…hey Ukyo" Ranma said awkwardly as he stood there in a jumble of bodies.

"Hey Ukyo?" the Okonomiyaki Chef repeated. It was easy to see that she was not happy with Ranma's less then enthusiastic greeting. "I don't see you for weeks, and all I get is a lousy "hey Ukyo"?"

"Miss Kuonji" Nabiki cut in before Ranma could reply. "I believe you and I have something to talk about in regards to my family's home and dojo."

"What are you talking about Tendo?" Ukyo asked turning an icy glare towards the other girl.

Nabiki had long ago perfected the art of the icy glare, and was thus unaffected by Ukyo's rather amateurish usage of it. "Oh you know, a few months ago…You broke through the wall of my house with the rest of that idiot wrecking crew and started throwing your explosive food all over the place."

"Hey." Ranma said trying to separate the two girls.

His efforts were largely ignored as they continued to glare at each other.

"I was only trying to prevent Ran-chan from making a huge mistake" Ukyo said trying not to show weakness before the Ice Queen of Furinkan High.

"Hey!: Ranma said a little louder, trying to get their attention.

Once again both girls ignored him and kept their attention on each other.

"What you were doing," Nabiki began "was causing massive damage to my home and endangering the lives of my father, my older sister, and myself."

"Your lives weren't in danger" Ukyo protested "I knew exactly what I was doing."

"That still leaves the little matter of the damages to my home and family dojo." Nabiki insisted.

"HEY!" Ranma said finally breaking in between the two girls.

"What is it!" both girls said simultaneously.

"Maybe we can do this sometime when I'm not bleeding?"

Both girls looked at Ranma, and finally noticed a growing wetness in the front of his shirt.

End Notes: Well, what do you think? Ranma's been shot. Whaddya know about that? If you liked this please review, and if you didn't like this and are still reading please review anyways. I'm always looking to improve my writing. Also, anyone willing to be a proofreader or editor for this series give me a shout. I could use another pair of eyes on this. Thank you.

Mysterious One D


	3. Bullet wounds and pains of the heart

Author's Notes: Welcome to the third installment of this series. I hope you've enjoyed it so far and thanks for reading. I own nothing save the OC who first appears in this chapter. All the rights to Ranma 1/2 go to Rumiko Takahashi and anyone else who owns a part of the franchise. The characters contained within this story are used only for my amusement, and the amusement of others in a wholly non-profit way. This is my take on these characters if you don't like it then I wish you the best of luck in finding something more to your tastes. And now I present to you the third chapter of The Secrets We Keep.

Chapter 3

It took only seconds for Ukyo and Nabiki to realize that the growing wetness on Ranma's shirt was blood.

"You've been shot!" Nabiki exclaimed.

"Yeah, I kinda got that." Ranma said "now are you gonna help me get to Tofu's place or not? I can't jump like this."

"We need to get you to a hospital Ran-chan" Ukyo said.

"Nah, hospitals ask too many questions. Plus first thing they're gonna do is run some cold water over this. I don't wanna change into a girl with a hole in my stomach."

"But…"

"We don't have time to argue," Nabiki said getting herself under control after a momentary panic. "Besides Doctor Tofu's clinic is closer."

And so both girls took an arm and walked Ranma as quickly as they dare to Doctor Tofu's clinic. Along the way they were very careful not to get Ranma wet. At the door of the cline they found Doctor Tofu escorting a new patient out his door. She looked to be about the same age as Ranma or Nabiki. She had long dark hair with a very curious red streak going down the middle of hit. Her hair was done up into a thick braid that went to the small of her back. Nabiki immediately took notice of the large, golden ring that was tied into the end of her braid. Nabiki filed this information away for review at a future time. Right now she had to focus on getting Ranma medical attention.

"Thank you for stopping by." Doctor Tofu was saying to the girl "It's not often I get to treat someone like you."

The girl smiled and walked away. Then Tofu turned his attention to Ranma, Nabiki, and Ukyo.

"Oh! Nabiki, Ms. Kuonji, and Ranma Saotome! What can I do for you today?"

It was then that he noticed Ranma was holding his abdomen and grimacing in pain.

"Did something happen?"

"You could say that Doc." Ranma said as he took his hands away from the wound. Immediately Tofu was all business.

"Take him inside girls. Put him on a bed in the room on the left." Tofu took only a moment to close the door to his clinic and flip over the welcome sign to CLOSED so he wouldn't be disturbed.

Going inside, Tofu quickly washed his hands and opened Ranma's shirt to get a look at the wound. He pocked and prodded for a few moments before quickly and efficiently sealing the wound. He stepped out and motioned for Nabiki and Ukyo to enter the room.

"Are you crazy?" He said after a moment "What were you thinking bringing someone with a bullet wound here? And that question is rhetorical, please don't answer it."

"Don't blame 'em Doc." Ranma said "I made them take me here."

"You're lucky" Tofu said reexamining the wound.

"How's that Doc?"

"The bullet passed through at an angle. The wound is shallow."

"Ran-chan's going to be okay?" Ukyo asked.

"Yes, Ms. Kuonji. He lost some blood, but the wound was already partially healed by the time he got here."

"Yeah, I've been healing a lot quicker lately."

"Really…" Tofu said looking introspective for a moment.

"What is it?" Nabiki asked

"No, it's nothing." Tofu said quickly.

Nabiki decided not to press the issue for the time being. "Doctor, can he come home tonight?"

"For something as serious as this I'd advise against it, but Ranma is a bit of a special case. There's a strong circulation of healthy Ki around the area so there shouldn't be any internal damage."

"So does this mean I'm leavin' or not?" Ranma asked

"You can go home, on one very strict condition."

"Yeah?"

"No strenuous activity for at least 24 hours"

Ranma looked like he was going to protest until Nabiki spoke up.

"It's only for one day Saotome. You can live like a normal person for one day can't you?"

"Fine" he said grudgingly

The walk back to the Tendo household was quiet and uneventful. Ukyo had tagged along in order to make sure Ranma got back okay. The normally cheerful girl was very quiet and had an air of depression around her. Finally as they reached the local park near the Tendo house she spoke up.

"Ran-chan, are you…are you mad at me?"

Ranma's first instinct was to run. Growing up under Genma's care he had learned to use emotions to his advantage in a fight, but also to run from any true emotional confrontation. However, as he was wounded and under doctor's orders to take it easy things weren't that easy. Eventually he sighed and decided to face the issue head on.

"Yeah, I kinda am Ukyo."

"You won't call me Ucchan any more." There were tears in her eyes "If it's about the bullet, you know there was no way I could've…"

"It's not about the bullet. It's about the wedding."

"Oh" was all Ukyo could say.

"I mean you're supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend Ran-chan."

"Friends support each other. If you were really my friend you wouldn't have broken into the Tendo place and made a mess of everything.

"I was only trying to keep you from making a huge mistake."

"It was my mistake to make Ukyo" Ranma said softly "It probably was a huge mistake but it wasn't your place to stop me."

By this point Ukyo was freely crying.

"I love you Ran-chan" and then she leaned in and kissed him.

The kiss was brief and one-sided. Ranma was too stunned at the use of the "L" word to react. When it was over Ukyo turned around without another word and leapt away. It was then that Ranma heard the absolute last thing he wanted to deal with right then.

"Ranma! You two-timing jerk!"

Akane had been angry early in the morning, but as the day went on she realized that Ranma would probably apologize later. He said he had something to do with Nabiki after school but that was probably just to throw her off-track and make sure she wasn't expecting it when he finally apologized. There was no way he actually had something to do with Nabiki. Most people, except for her carefully chosen subordinates, tended to avoid Nabiki lest they get slapped with a huge fine for something or other.

So she waited after school for Ranma. She waited and waited and waited but he never showed. Finally she went home figuring Ranma was going to surprise her at home. She decided she'd make him wait just like he made her wait. So she stopped by the park on her way home. When she got to the park she saw something completely unexpected. Ranma was on a date with Nabiki and Ukyo! And to make matters worse he was kissing Ukyo! No doubt Ukyo knew Akane was there, and that's why she chose that moment to run away. That was okay though the real target of her wraith was still there. Summoning as much rage aura as she could she ran forward screaming.

"Ranma! You two-timing jerk!"

Ranma could only stare like a deer caught in headlights, as Akane slammed into him like a human freight train. The force behind the punch rivaled anything he had ever experienced from Ryoga. Normally, when Akane hit him with her mallet he could adjust so he didn't receive the full force of the blow. This was a straight punch, instead of being knocked into a nice arc with lots of air to work with (the Saotome school specializes in mid-air combat after all) this hit sent him flying directly backwards.

On the way back from Doctor Tofu's clinic Nabiki and Ukyo had managed to steer Ranma well away from any potential water hazards including the water fountain in the park. It was this same fountain that put a stop to Ranma's backwards flight. His gender changing as soon as he it the water.

Nabiki was instantly furious with her younger sister. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"He was kissing Ukyo and on a date with you, while I waited at home for him to apologize."

"Are you blind! Ukyo kissed him! I don't have time to argue with you Akane. I have to go check on Ranma. He was seriously hurt before you hit him."

Nabiki ran towards the fountain only to find the girl from outside of Dr. Tofu's clinic kneeling by Ranma. Her hands were covering Ranma's reopened wound and there was a glow coming from them. The girl also seemed to be chanting in a different language. The girl noticed Nabiki approaching, and stopped chanting. In a few moments the glow disappeared as well.

She stood up and looked at Nabiki "He should be okay now. I'm glad he has someone like you looking after him."

"Who are you and what you mean by that?" Nabiki asked.

The girl looked at Ranma who was just beginning to come to. She looked as if she were trying to decide something. After a short pause she looked back at Nabiki.

"I have to go." She said and ran off.

Disregarding the strange girl Nabiki helped Ranma out of the water foundation.

"How do you feel?" She asked

"Surprisingly, I feel great" Ranma said as she lifted her shirt to inspect the wound from before. To both their utter shock and amazement it was gone.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Akane said as she arrived at a slower pace then her older sister. " Ranma gets hurt all the time and he always turns out fine."

"Ranma has never been shot before you idiot!" Nabiki shouted.

"Akane's got a point." Ranma said, "I'm fine now."

"Great!" Akane said, "So you can finally get to that apology you owe me."

"What apology?" Ranma asked.

"An apology for being a two-timing pervert." Akane said completely sure of her own correctness.

Ranma just boggled at Akane's train of thought. "You know what?" He said coming to a realization "I'm tired of this. I'm going home."

"Okay, let's go home." Nabiki said and she started to walk Ranma in the direction of the Tendo house.

"Actually, Nabiki would you mind coming with me to Mom's place?"

"You're not coming back to our house?" Akane asked.

Ranma looked at Akane for a moment until he spoke up. "Nah, I'd rather not go there right now. I'm tired of all the crazy."

Akane looked on with hurt in her eyes as Ranma turned his back on her and walked away.

End Notes: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, whether you liked it or not please review. I look forward to reading what you have to say. Once again, if anybody is interested in becoming a proofreader or editor for this series give me a shout and we'll talk. Thank you for reading.

Mysterious One D

**EDIT: **I fixed a few things here and there, and made a few dialogue changes. Still nothing major and no big plot changes.


	4. Confrontations

Author's Notes: Okay, only after uploading this thing did I realize what a beast it was at 2,800+ words without author's notes so I'll try to keep this short. This is the fourth chapter, and you've all read enough of these by now that you know the drill. I own nothing but the plot and the OC's. Ken Kanzuki is technically my OC even though Karin Kanzuki has a canon father, I just don't feel like taking the time to look him up and fix the name. If you've made it this far in thanks for reading and enjoy chapter 4 of The Secrets We Keep.

Chapter Four

One-Week Ago

The schoolyard of Furinkan was littered with bodies. Which was a not too unusual sight for any given morning at the high school. Whether it be from the effects of a ki vampire, a deranged lunatic with a strange obsession with haircuts and exploding fruit, or simply the aftermath of an angry blue-haired girl venting her rage, a ground littered with unconscious or barely conscious bodies was hardly a rare sight for this particular high school. This morning, however, was different as the center of the chaos contained a strange blond-haired girl in a red, sailor-style school uniform.

"Where is Ranma Saotome?" The girl called. "I, Karin Kanzuki, wish to fight the one who defeated Kodachi Kuno! Where is she?"

"Geez, pipe down will ya?" A sleepy-eyed Ranma said as he slowly walked through the chaos. "Here I was minding my own business trying to catch some shut-eye in Ms. Hinako's class and you just keep yelling my name."

"Who are you?" Karin asked, "I seek not a boy, but the red-haired one who fought Kodachi Kuno."

"Look I'm Ranma Saotome. Martial-artist extraordinaire and all around awesome guy."

"And you are the same Ranma Saotome who fought-"

"Kodachi." Ranma interrupted "Yeah, I heard you the first two times."

"Really?" Kodachi asked, "You are the red-haired girl?"

"You want a demonstration don't you?" Ranma sighed. Taking a moment to search the nearest unconscious student, he came up with a water bottle. He then proceeded to dump the contents over his head.

Karin merely raised one immaculate eyebrow as the male Ranma disappeared and left the female Ranma standing in front of her.

"Physical transformation? Interesting."

Looking around further at the chaos around him Ranma spoke up. "You know you could have called for me _before _you beat everyone up."

"And ruin my warm-up?" Karin asked

"Warm-up?" Ranma asked, "You could take out half of these yutzes with a stiff breeze."

The ace of the baseball team who was just barely clinging to consciousness summoned the last of his strength for one last comment.

"Screw you." was all he said before lapsing into unconsciousness.

Ranma looked at him with boredom. "He's just jealous 'cause I'm better than he is."

"Enough of this tomfoolery!" Karin shouted.

"Geez, crank it down a notch. I'm right here."

"Fight me!" Karin said and launched herself at Ranma.

The red-haired girl just dodged Karin's opening salvo.

"Hmmm. No bad speed." She said as she ducked under a punch that connected with the front wall of Furinkan creating a small crater. "Strength's not bad either. You're overextending a bit and you're balance isn't quite right."

"Quit mocking me!" Karin shouted

"Hey, I'm just pointing things out." Ranma said. "I haven't even started mocking you yet. But you know, I could use a fight and you're pretty macho. Maybe if I close my eyes I can pretend you're a guy."

Karin had given up talking by this point, focusing all her energy on hitting her elusive opponent. It just made her angrier that Ranma wasn't even taking this seriously. She was dodging with her eyes closed!

Karin's anger only made her sloppy, as she was unprepared for the basic foot sweep that came from Ranma. Flat on her back Karin could only watch in shock as a fist descended for her head, only to stop less than an inch from the bridge of her nose.

"Nah, I can't do it after all." Ranma said straightening up.

"NO!" Karin yelled as she got to her feet. "It can't end like this!"

Ranma just ignored her and just kept walking away.

"No! I will not permit this!" Karin screamed.

"Face it. It's over." Nabiki said as she walked up. "I made quite a bit of money off of you. Nobody expected Ranma to beat you so quickly. It was a sure thing he was going to win, I've learned that much, but not nobody expected it to be over so fast."

Karin whirled on the mercenary girl, ready to vent her rage. For a moment Nabiki was afraid that Karin would strike her. It was only for a moment though, as just then Nabiki heard a very welcome sound at the moment.

"What a haul! What a haul!"

Nabiki smiled as she immediately thought of a plan. A dangerous and unpredictable plan, but a plan nonetheless.

"Oh Happosai!" she called "Look a pretty blonde, Japanese girl!"

Immediately Happosai's attention was riveted towards Karin.

"Sweeto!" he yelled as he attached himself to Karin's chest.

She screamed in equal parts horror, anger, and humiliation as Happosai shamelessly rubbed himself against her. She managed to grab a hold of the back of his gi and pulled him off. It was only after he came off of her that she felt something weird. Her chest felt odd, like something was lacking. Looking down at the perverted gnome she noticed that somehow her bra was in his hands and he was dancing with it!

Nabiki took this moment to whip out a disposable camera and snap a picture of the scene before her. Karin Kanzuki, a powerful martial artist, with a face nearly the color of her uniform while she tried in vain to snatch her bra back from Happosai's clutches. Karin took notice of this and let Happosai go to focus on Nabiki.

"Give me that camera!" she screamed and lunged at Nabiki.

While she had given up martial arts years ago, Nabiki still remembered enough to dodge a sloppy lunge from a desperate opponent.

"If you want this camera so badly I'll make you a deal. Eighty thousand yen and it's yours."

Karin realized she was in no position to bargain. Pulling a small purse from her skirt pocket she pulled out a wad of bills and threw them at Nabiki.

Nabiki was quite surprised for moment that this girl had that kind of money on her and that she could just throw it away, but she filed that thought away for later. She counted the bills, found the amount to be correct, and tossed the camera at Karin.

"Thanks for your business." was all Nabiki said as she turned to walk away.

Karin caught the camera and swiftly destroyed it. She stood up and stared at Nabiki.

"You have shamed me today." She said, "You and that blasted Ranma Saotome. I will not forget or forgive this action towards my person. My father shall hear of this."

"Yes, yes" Nabiki said dismissively "Just run on home to your daddy little girl."

Karin literally growled before spitting out one last retort. "You will live to regret this day Nabiki Tendo."

Nabiki waited for the girl leave before heading back to class. Though for the rest of the day she couldn't concentrate on her work very well. For some reason she couldn't immediately identify the other girl's parting words bothered her. She said her name was Karin Kanzuki and this name sounded a bit familiar. Nabiki decided to do some research later.

Present Time

After leaving the park Ranma and Nabiki found a place where they could get some hot water. The owner of the shop couldn't resist two very attractive young girls asking for something as simple as a cup of hot water. Of course had he known that one of the pretty girls would turn into a boy he might have hesitated a bit longer. As it was the pair was gone before the man could ask any questions.

They walked along for a minute before Nabiki stopped.

"Hey Ranma, can you hold on for a second?" Nabiki asked, "I want to make a call." She pulled a phone from her pocket and flipped it open.

"Uh, sure Nabiki" He said "But that's not your phone."

"I know." She said "I took it from one of those thugs you fought earlier. I want to talk to Ken Kanzuki. I have to."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"I have to Ranma."

"All right, just be careful."

Nabiki laughed, "It's just a phone call." And then she dialed the only number in the phone's memory.

The phone rang a few times before the line was picked up. "Ms. Tendo, how nice of you to call."

"How…?" she started.

"The GPS of that phone you're using shows you to be in a residential area any of my employees would have no business in. And I'm all about business." The voice that spoke over the phone was smooth and refined, but there was a hint of underlying power.

"In that case let's get right down to it. You almost killed someone I care about tonight."

Ranma quirked an eyebrow at this, but wisely chose to say nothing at the present.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." the voice said with casual disinterest.

"Don't lie to me." Nabiki hissed into the receiver. "Some of your thugs attacked my friend and I tonight."

"Hmm, it's possible some of my more…enthusiastic…employees took it upon themselves to express my displeasure at the humiliation my daughter suffered last week."

"If it's about the money, I can get it back. I just need a little time."

"Dear Ms. Tendo, weren't you listening? This isn't about the money. The paltry sum you won at my daughter's expense is nothing. I recouped my losses, financially speaking, from that little incident inside a day."

"Then why are you doing this?" Nabiki was starting to sound a little desperate.

"Respect Ms. Tendo, respect." The voice had gained a hard edge to it. "You and your boyfriend humiliated my daughter and subjected her to the hands of that inhuman creature known as Happosai. You made her look weak, and by extension made me look weak. I'm afraid, _Nabiki_, you will have to deal with the consequences of your actions." And then the line went dead, leaving Nabiki quivering in one part fear and one part anger.

Miles away in a plush office in an inconspicuous Tokyo skyscraper sat Ken Kanzuki. On the surface he appeared to be very well off, but legitimate, businessman but in reality he was the head of one of the largest Yakuza groups in Japan. At the moment he was sitting at his desk very pleased with how his conversation just went, and allowed himself a moment to savor it. But only a moment as there were things that needed to be attended to. Reaching forward to a button on his desk he hailed his secretary.

"Ms. Otonashi, I would like you to send in my new security associate."

"Of course Mr. Kanzuki. Right away sir."

One hour later

Ken Kanzuki was normally a very patient man, but this was really trying his patience. After all, how long could it take for someone to travel less than an hundred feet?

"Ms. Otonashi where is my associate?"

"Sir?"

"My associate has yet to arrive."

"I don't understand sir. I sent him to your office an hour ago."

Suddenly the door to Ken Kanzuki's private bathroom opened and out stepped a weary Ryoga Hibiki.

"Did I finally make it?"

Ken was completely shocked at the lost boy's sudden appearance. "How the devil did you get in there?"

"I, uh, I got lost."

"There are only two doors between my secretary's office and this office." Ken was completely baffled at this.

"Yeah, you might want to think about changing that. It's confusing for some people."

"Ahem, anyway now that you're here I have some business to discuss with you. I saw your skill first hand, the other day when you suddenly wandered into this building and took out six of my best bodyguards."

"They started the fight and I finished it." Ryoga shrugged.

"Exactly!" Ken said, "That decisiveness is exactly why I'd like you to do me a favor. You will be well compensated of course."

"Well sure I could always use a little extra walking around money. I, uh, I tend to do a lot of walking around."

"I'm sure." Ken said dryly. He handed two photographs to Ryoga that had been acquired at greatly exaggerated cost.

"Anyway, these two people, one Nabiki Tendo and her boyfriend Ranma Saotome, have been somewhat troublesome as of late. I want you to find them for me. Bring the Tendo girl to me."

"And what about Saotome?"

Ken waved his hand dismissively. "Kill him. He's of no use to me."

Ryoga smiled a feral smile. "Gladly."

One hour ago at the park

As soon as the line went dead Nabiki snapped the phone shut and hurled it away from herself.

"So I take it things didn't go so well." Ranma said

"No" Nabiki said bitterly. "He's still after us."

"No worries. If they attack us again I'll just beat 'em all up." Ranma said confidently.

"Ranma you were shot today."

"Lucky shot. One-in-a-million type of thing."

"Sooner or later they're going to get lucky again." Nabiki pointed out.

"So we just gotta find the big boss and beat him up."

"If only things were that simple." Nabiki sighed.

Changing the subject Ranma asked, "So what'd you do with the money?"

"What?"

"The money. That you won from betting on my fight?"

"Gone." Nabiki shrugged "I used it all."

"For what?"

"Wedding expenses." Nabiki said and started ticking items off on her fingers. "The cake, the decorations, the priest, your suit, Akane's dress. That took about half of it."

Ranma boggled. He had no idea weddings were so expensive or complicated. He didn't really want to ask the next question, but he did anyways.

"What about the other half?"

"Repairs to the house and the dojo." Nabiki said, "Everybody made a huge mess of it, and that martial arts construction company isn't cheap."

"Okay I guess I can understand that." Ranma said "but I gotta ask you one more thing. You knew at least Shampoo and the Old Ghoul would do something. Some magic B.S. or something. So why'd you send invitations to them anyway?"

Nabiki made a disgusted face "Actually I didn't send them any invitations."

Ranma scratched his head in confusion. "So how'd they get 'em then?"

"Daddy" Nabiki said, "He found out I was sending invitations out. He took a few and sent them to the Nekohanten, Ukyo's place, the Kuno mansion, and even Ryoga's house."

"Why would he do that?" Ranma asked.

"He wanted to rub their faces in the fact that you were marrying Akane."

"Geez, so it was your Pops that caused the whole mess?" Ranma asked.

"Pretty much." Nabiki said with shrug.

"Man why can't those old guys just leave us alone?"

Lacking an answer to Ranma's question, the pair just lapsed into a comfortable silence. As they neared Nodoka's house Nabiki was the one to break the silence.

"Do you realize that today was the longest amount of time we've ever spent together? And that the last hour was the longest conversation we've ever had?"

"Heh" Ranma laughed, "I guess I am your _friend_ right?"

"Okay so you have kind of…grown on me…I suppose." Nabiki admitted.

"Sooo, _are_ we friends now or what?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, I guess we kind of are." Nabiki said "But don't push it Saotome."

And with that they lapsed back into their comfortable silence as they came up to Nodoka's house.

At the Tendo Household.

The sound of a door slamming and heavy footsteps in the front hall were the signs of Akane's return to the Tendo home. A smiling Kasumi stepped out of the kitchen to greet her youngest sister.

"Welcome back Akane. Did you find Ranma while you were out?"

"Yeah, that two-timing jerk was on a date with Ukyo ad Nabiki at the same time." Akane growled.

Hearing key words like "Ranma," "date," and "Ukyo" Soun Tendo ran to the front hall to squeeze his daughter for details.

"Ranma was cheating on my darling little girl!" Soun roared charging up ki for a demon head technique.

"He was just being a pervert like usual" Akane said "but I showed him what's what." She held up her fist to emphasize her point, while her father nodded vigorously.

"Oh dear" Kasumi sighed "Will Ranma be down in time for supper?"

At the question Akane's anger melted to a confused and concerned look. "He said he wasn't coming back. He said he was going to Auntie Nodoka's house and Nabiki went with him."

"WHAT!" Soun roared again.

"What's all the commotion about Tendo my friend?" Genma asked as he ambled into the entranceway.

He didn't really care what Akane was so mad about. These days the girl would go off at the drop of a hat, but he did want to know when supper was going to be. He really worked up an appetite cheating at Shogi with his friend all day.

"Oh, Kasumi dear girl, what time is sup…"

"YOUR SON IS CHEATING ON MY LITTLE GIRL!" Genma was interrupted by Soun exploding into his demon head technique.

Having seen this technique in action both before and after he came to live with the Tendos he was mostly unaffected by the technique. Mostly.

Chuckling nervously he scratched the back of his head. "I'll, uh, I'll make sure to reprimand the boy when he gets back."

"He's not coming back," Akane pouted. "He went to Auntie Nodoka's house."

Genma was completely unprepared for what happened next. Soun's demon head technique experienced a sudden power up. It morphed into something bigger, uglier, and scarier.

"GO GET YOUR SON!" Soun's demon head version 2.0 roared out.

"And no supper for you until you do." Kasumi added calmly.

While Soun's demon head version 2.0 technique was fearsome, it was the last part put in by Kasumi that really got Genma moving. He would do anything to fill his stomach. He had even sold his only son, more than once, for the sake of satiating his hunger. And so with thoughts of Kasumi's cooking in his head he set out to face the one thing he feared more than the Master. His wife.

End Notes: Okay, I hope you all enjoyed that. Please let me know what you think. If you liked it give me a review and tell me why. If you didn't like it, first thanks for finishing the thing and second give me a review and tell me why.

A special thanks to Tai Khan who gave me some good questions to think about and try my best to answer. If you're still reading thanks a bunch, and here are my answers to a couple questions you brought up:

Ranma didn't realize the fourth thug was pointing a gun at him because he wasn't taking the fight seriously. He wasn't being as aware as he should have been

Nabiki feared an attack on her life. She didn't want her little sister to potentially caught up in that. As for why she didn't have Ranma near her during school hours, Furinkan is a crazy place. It is well known for insane martial arts battles and its lunatic principle with his love for cutting hair. Nabiki figured that no yakuza thug would dare attack her on school grounds. Finally as for why she entered into dealings with the Yakuza, the fact is that she didn't. She merely set up her usual bidding ring around the fight between Ranma and Karin. She didn't know that Karin had ties to the Yakuza until after she had already collected the money.

One final thing I'm still in the market for an editor if you're interested at all send me a message and we'll talk. Until next time.

Mysterious One D

**EDIT: **More small changes to dialogue, spelling and grammar. Still nothing major.


	5. Family Reunion

Author's Notes: Welcome to the fifth installment of this series. I've seen that a number of people have added this story to their watch or favorite's list, and that makes me pretty happy. I'm glad the reactions to this story have been so positive overall. I only have one complaint: people are adding this story to their favorites and their watch lists but not reviewing. I'm still a relatively new author and I'm still learning how to write. Any and all reviews go towards improving my writing, which in turn improves the quality of this story. If you like the story give it a review. If you don't like the story, tell me why. As for the legal stuff I own nothing but the ideas used in this story and Ryoko. That being said if anybody wants to borrow Ryoko for their own story after this chapter let me know and I'll give it a read. Enjoy the latest chapter of The Secrets We Keep.

Chapter 5

Are you going to knock or what?" Nabiki asked somewhat impatiently

"Gimme a minute all right?" Ranma said "Mom`s known about my curse for a while, but I still don`t know if she`s gonna cut my head off or not"

"Ranma your mother is a very sweet woman" Nabiki said "If she decides to cut your head off I`m sure she has a good reason."

"Gee thanks Nabiki. That makes me feel a lot better."

"I`m just joking. Now knock on the door so we can go inside."

Ranma stretched out his hand and gave a few gentle, but firm raps on the door to announce their presence. A minute later the door opened to reveal Nodoka dressed as usual in a kimono, but lacking her usual katana as she probably left it inside the house.

"Ranma! And Nabiki! What a surprise. Why didn't you tell me you were going to stop by?" Nodoka asked

Nabiki couldn`t help but notice that Nodoka seemed a little nervous.

"It`s kinda a long story Mom." Ranma said, "You mind if we come in for a while?"

"Actually dear now isn't really the best time..." Nodoka was clearly nervous for some reason, as the door was not open very wide. It was just wide enough to let Nodoka poke her head out.

"Who`s at the door?" A voice from inside the house called.

"Who was that?" Ranma asked

"Oh nobody" Nodoka said "Just the next-door neighbor stopping by for a visit."

"You don`t have any next-door neighbors." Nabiki pointed out. And it was true. The closest inhabited house was three doors down on either side. After the first time Nodoka`s house had been destroyed by the various fiancées the neighbors had collectively decided to move away or risk their own homes being destroyed in the fiancée crossfire. Martial artists were not sane people they had rationalized. Who knew what they would destroy next.

Nodoka was still searching for an answer when the voice from inside called out again. "Mom? Who`s at the door?" The voice was much closer this time. Ranma took advantage of his mother's distraction and opened the door wider to get a look at the owner of said voice. To his surprise it was the girl from before. The one who had healed him except that she was different this time. She was only dressed in her underwear, but having had his curse for so long and having seen each of his fiancées in various states of undress this wasn't what caught his eye. What immediately caught his attention were the two large, black-feathered wings coming from her back. That and the fact that he girl had referred to Nodoka as "Mom."

Pushing past his mother, and quickly dropping off his shoes, Ranma moved to confront the girl.

"You. You healed me in the park. Who are you and why are you calling her mom?"

The girl smiled and said "Give me your name and I`ll give you mine."

"Fine!" Ranma said "I`m Ranma Saotome heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."

"Then I`m Ryoko Saotome." the girl said "of the Anything Goes School of Magical Arts."

Before Ranma could ask any more questions Nodoka interrupted them. "Enough you two. Young lady go upstairs and get properly dressed. Ranma there`s some snacks in the kitchen. Help yourself while we wait for Ryoko. Once she`s dressed we are going to sit down and talk this through like adults."

"But Mom my wings..." Ryoko started to say but Nodoka cut her off.

"Go young lady."

"I'm sorry to intrude on a family matter Auntie Nodoka" Nabiki said from just inside the door "But do you mind if I stay for a while?"

"Of course not dear, but what are you doing here so late?"

"It`s a long story Auntie."

"Something tells me I should hear this." Nodoka said

And so Nabiki started with a description of the events of the past week. Nodoka listened intently not saying a word. She frowned a bit when Nabiki spoke of how she treated Karin and when she heard of Ranma`s gunshot wound and Akane`s subsequent treatment of him. Nabiki inwardly cringed at that. Nodoka was the closest thing to a mother she had had for over ten years. Despite the woman`s eccentricities and the fact that she wasn't around much Nabiki genuinely liked her and didn't want to disappoint her. She finished by telling of how the strange girl, now known as Ryoko Saotome, appeared outside of Doctor Tofu's clinic and at the fountain in the park and how she healed Ranma.

"That`s quite the story." Nodoka said and then, speaking to Ryoko who had just come back downstairs, she added "Ryoko we need a spell of protection around the house please."

Ryoko was now dressed in a tank top and shorts, but Nabiki noticed that her wings were curiously missing. Then Ryoko started casting the spell and the wings from before grew out from between her shoulder blades. There was a glow around her hands for a minute before it sprang out and sank into the walls and ceiling of the house.

"Done" Ryoko said, but then noticed the disapproving look Nodoka was giving her. "What?"

"I thought you would be PROPERLY dressed" Nodoka said, "You have become too used to modern clothes and you need to learn to dress like a lady. There`s a beautiful kimono in your room right now."

"Um..uh.." Ryoko stalled, obviously not wanting to put on the traditional garment "Oh! I felt a very strong life presence just outside the house. They might attack, and I need to be able to move around if that happens."

"Life presence?" Ranma questioned as he walked out of the kitchen. "Oh you mean ki. Let`s see who it is."

He expanded his sense outward to the walls of the house where he experience some difficulty with the spell surrounding the house.

"Stupid magic" he muttered, "It never reacts well with ki."

"I heard they mix rather well" Ryoko said "If you do it right."

"Shut up. I`m concentrating." Ranma said pushing his senses past the barrier. An instant later he visibly relaxed as he got a read on the ki outside and recognized it. "Oh it`s just Pop." He turned towards Ryoko "Hey You! You got any sort of spell that`ll reach out and drag his butt in here."

"My name isn't 'Hey You' it`s Ryoko" she said

"Yeah you said that." Ranma said "I just don`t buy it. You gotta be some sort of mirror clone or something and you brainwashed Mom."

"Mirror clone?" the winged girl asked looking at Nodoka.

"Just go get Genma dear." she said, "It will be easier to explain. Once he gets here we will all need to talk."

"Right. Short-range teleportation it is." Ryoko did a few gestures with her hands and a circle of light with glowing runes appeared around her feet. She faded from view only to return a few moments later with Genma, currently in panda form, at her side. The girl was now grinning wildly.

"Look! Look! I found out he has a Jusenkyo curse." Ryoko said, "This is so cool! I've heard all about these curses, but I've never seen one before."

Nabiki wondered why the girl was so excited about Genma's panda curse when she had seen Ranma's girl form earlier, but she chose to keep quiet for now. She wanted to find out more about this girl and what secrets she was hiding. She also wanted to see Genma's reaction to the girl.

Genma himself was currently recovering from the magical relocation he had been forced to undergo. Being instantly moved via magic from one place to another with no chance to prepare himself played havoc on his senses. Not to mention the aforementioned magic somehow reacting with his curse and causing him to transform into a panda without the aid of cold water. Holding up a sign he asked the first question that sprang to his mind. *What was THAT?*

Instead of answering Genma`s question, Ryoko had a much more pressing question to ask. "Where did that sign come from?"

"Ya know, I never thought about that." Ranma said, "Where do those signs come from Pops?"

*You DON`T want to know* Genma `signed`

"Meh. Fair enough." Ranma shrugged.

*Wait. Aren`t you going to react to that?*

"Nah, I didn`t really care anyway." Ranma said.

Genma lumbered away disappointed and went to find some hot water.

"Now about you..." Ranma said turning his attention back to Ryoko.

"I told you." She said "My name isn`t `you` it`s Ryoko."

"Saotome" Ranma added.

"Yep, that`s my family name." the girl said still grinning wildly.

"But that`s my family name."

"Well duh." She said, "We are siblings after all."

"We are?" Ranma asked "But you have wings."

"That`s cause I`m a half demon. And so are you." She said with a flourish.

"I am?" Ranma questioned again "I dunno. I know Pops isn't the greatest guy in the world but I`m pretty sure he`s human."

Genma, having just returned after changing back, took offense at Ranma`s last statement. "Of course I`m human boy. What do you take me for?"

Without missing a beat Ranma said "A big, fat, lazy panda."

"Why you little!" Genma moved to smack Ranma upside the head. Of course Ranma`s martial arts training allowed him to sense and avoid the blow with plenty of time to spare. Genma, having anticipated this, had readied a follow up blow. Ranma promptly blocked this and retaliated with a punch. And then they began to fight in earnest.

Ryoko looked in confusion first at Nodoka then at Nabiki. "Are they always like this?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Nabiki said "Though there`s no property damage yet so at least they`re holding back."

"Even so" Nodoka said as she retrieved her katana "This kind of display is most unmanly." She emphasized the last word of the sentence by drawing the first inch or so of the katana from its sheath, and abruptly all fighting ceased

"Heh, sorry about that Mom." Ranma said. Turning to his father Ranma motioned to the scratches that adorned his face and arms. "What kinda technique is that? You've never used that one before."

"That`s because it`s new boy. You've been getting far too cocky lately, and it`s up to me to use my techniques to bring you down."

"Yeah, like that`ll happen." Ranma said

"Ranma, your wounds!" Nabiki pointed out the scratches that were fading away remarkably fast even for Ranma`s martial arts enhanced healing factor.

"It`s begun hasn't it?" Nodoka sighed

"What`s begun Mom?" Ranma asked

"The seal is fading." Nodoka said.

Ranma, Nabiki and Genma looked at each other in confusion at this statement. Ryoko nodded her head sagely "I knew it. I could feel that there was a seal there, but it`s pretty weak right now."

"Okay, I`m lost." Ranma said, "What seal are we talking about here?"

Nodoka sighed again "I think it`s time I told you and your father the truth. Starting with Ryoko."

Genma had a strong reaction to the name `Ryoko. ` He suddenly became deadly serious as he said. He stared at the face of the young girl before him for a moment before turning towards Nodoka. "Nodoka" Genma said softly "Ryoko is dead. My daughter died years ago and I never even got a chance to see her!"

There was a hard edge to Genma's voice that Ranma had never heard before. Nodoka just hung her head in shame.

"Yes" Nodoka said. The shame and guilt was written all over her face. "You have every right to hate me for what I've done. I told you that Ryoko died just after she was born. That was a lie. This girl" gesturing towards Ryoko "you see in front of you is your daughter." Nodoka had tears streaming down her face at this point.

Genma was shocked. A daughter he had thought dead before he could even see her was suddenly before his eyes alive and well. He looked like he might start crying too and his voice softened as he asked, "Why did you lie to me?"

Nodoka looked into Genma's eyes as she spoke. "Promise me you won't hate me."

In an uncharacteristic act of tenderness Genma gently gathered Nodoka in his arms. "I won`t hate you No-chan. Not now. Not ever. I promise."

Nodoka looked into Genma`s eyes and saw the truth of his statement there. Not matter what she had done and no matter what she was her husband would always forgive her. She buried her face in Genma`s dirty gi and cried tears of relief.

After a few minutes of silence Ranma spoke up. "So I got a sister now?"

Nodoka recomposed herself and looked at her husband and son." I promised to explain everything and so I shall. This is your older sister Ryoko. She is eighteen years old, as she was born one year before you."

Ryoko smiled and waved at Ranma. "Nice to meet`cha, but don`t bother with any of that `big sister` stuff. Just call me Ryoko. `Kay little brother?"

Nodoka continued "Husband this is your daughter. I told you she died shortly after birth. The truth is I couldn`t bear to have my secret exposed. You see, Ryoko was born with wings."

"Wings?" Genma asked just now noticing that the girl in question did indeed have wings.

"Cause I`m a half-demon." Ryoko explained again with a flare of her wings.

"But how?" Genma asked.

"Husband." Nodoka said, "A half-demon is create from the union of a human and a demon."

"Yes?" Genma said still not quite getting the point.

"In this case you are the human, and I am the demon." Nodoka said

Realization dawned in Genma`s face eyes as Ranma spoke up. "You look human, and you`re ki is normal."

"That`s because my true form and power are sealed away."

"What do you mean?"

"It`s a very long story dear. I will tell you it later, but it`s late now and we have all had a very large shock today. Perhaps we can discuss this in the morning after we have all had some time to rest. Ryoko`s protection spell will keep us safe from any unwanted visitors tonight."

No one offered any arguments to the contrary. It had been a long day for them all, and with silent agreement between all of them they decided to leave the matter to rest until the morning. In not bringing Ranma back right away Genma knew he was risking the wraith of Soun, but he decided that it was more important for him to hear Nodoka`s tale.

A short distance away on the roof of the nearest a building a lone figure sat in darkness. She was a hunter. Perhaps the best hunter among her people, and she had tracked her prey to a small, unassuming house in the suburbs. She knew appearances could be deceiving so she waited. She was surprised, but also excited when a defensive spell surrounded the house. She was a hunter; not a spellcaster but her great-grandmother had taught her how to recognize certain basic spells. The appearance of the defensive spell confirmed that her prey was indeed in the house. She suppressed her ki even further, just as her great-grandmother had taught her, and she waited. She waited for the opportune moment to strike. She would find her prey and bring it back before her people. She had to. Her honor was depending on it, and so Shampoo settled in for the night. Content to wait for her prey to show itself. Shampoo could wait.

End Notes: Well what do you think? I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I particularly enjoyed writing the little bits of banter between Genma and Ranma. I have a lot more planned for this story so keep your eyes peeled for the next installment which should be coming within a couple of weeks. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

To Dumbledork: Ryoga has already tried to kill Ranma, that's KILL not hurt, maim or defeat, at least twice in canon. I doubt he would have much problem with it after the manga ends. As for dealing with Nabiki. I don't see why he would refuse Ken Kanzuki's request. He only instructed Ryoga to bring Nabiki to him. Given Ryoga's proven gullibility and rather shaky system of personal ethics I doubt very much he would have a problem with kidnapping. If you want more evidence of Ryoga's instability check out the end of my bio and my Ryoga mini-rant.

Until next time,

Mysterious One D

**EDIT**: Yet more spelling and grammar changes. No dialogue changes this time.


	6. Battle at Nodoka's

Author's Notes: Well here is the latest chapter for The Secrets We Keep. I hope you all are still enjoying this story. I'll say again that what I'm doing here is my interpretation of the characters set forth in the original manga by Rumiko Takahashi. I'm not as familiar with the anime as I am with the manga so I'm basing my character models off of the manga. As far as legal stuff goes, I put this in just to be on the safe side, but I own nothing from Ranma 1/2 and I only have a very tenuous conceptual ownership of Ryoko. If for some reason you want to borrow Ryoko for work in another story that's just fine by me. Let me know and I'll read it. Now on with the show.

Chapter Six

The next morning found Nodoka, Genma, Ryoko, Ranma and Nabiki eating a cramped breakfast around Nodoka's rather small table. Breakfast was a quiet affair. Each individual was consumed with the questions running through their heads. Explanations had been promised for the morning, and for most those explanations could not come soon enough.

So it was a great relief when breakfast was finished and Nodoka cleared the table. Once the dishes were put in the sink Nodoka sat quietly down at the end of the table as she debated on where to begin in her explanations.

Just as Nodoka was about to begin the reunited family was rocked by an explosion from the other room.

As one they ran to where the explosion came from to see what had pieced the barrier spell Ryoko had put up. Rising up from the debris and the newly formed hole in the floor was none other than Ryoga Hibiki.

"Where the hell am I now?" Ryoga shouted

"I thought you set up a barrier all around the house." Ranma said

"I did!" Ryoko insisted "It went all the way to ground level. I never expected someone to come bursting up through the floor."

"Yeah, well you obviously haven`t met the idiots I`m used to dealing with."

Through the settling dust cloud Ryoga heard, and then saw, the target of his rage. All rational thought escaped him as images of violence danced through his head. "Ranma! Prepare to die!"

Nearby, Shampoo was watching with great interest as the barrier spell around the house fell. She was quite glad that somebody had broken the spell. Now she wouldn`t have to waste time trying to break through by herself. She didn`t know who broke the barrier spell until she heard the voice screaming "Prepare to die!" It was the pig-boy worked up about something. She didn`t hear who his target was, but she didn`t care. She took a moment to try to remember that guy`s name. He was always around her Airen, trying to fight him. What was his name? Ryuka? No. Ryota? No, that wasn`t it. Ryuma? No, but that felt close. Suddenly it came to her. Kuruma, of course, that was his name. She silently decided this was a stupid name and resolved to keep calling him pig-boy. Reaching for her chui and sword she jumped down from her hiding spot and headed for the modest house where her target resided.

Back inside the house, Ranma was trying to make sure the rest of his family was okay. Fortunately for him Genma was very good in a crisis. In everyday life Genma was lazy and generally worthless for anything except cheating in board games and insane training methods in martial arts. However, years of training under Happosai and his unorthodox methods drilled into Genma one special skill that he was very good at: running away. If there was one thing Genma knew how to do it was get the hell out of dodge. One his way out he took the liberty of taking the two most vulnerable people, Nodoka and Nabiki, with him. He reasoned that Ryoko could get out just fine by herself.

Unfortunately this was a rather faulty line of reasoning. As the inside of a house was rather cramped flying conditions, and the dust in the air as well as the noise was making it difficult to concentrate long enough to use a teleportation spell. Ryoko did manage to find her way to the front hall with the door waiting just a few feet away. However, when she was within a foot or so of the front the door, and a good portion of the wall surrounding it, exploded inwards. Ryoko was able to set up a simple magic shield to protect her from flying debris, but it didn't help to improve visibility any. She tried to move forward but found her way blocked by a colorfully painted chui.

"Shampoo want talk to you thief girl!" the Amazon girl spat

"Shampoo, funny meeting you here in Japan." Ryoko said nervously.

The way she said it, and her posture was oddly remiscent of somebody Shampoo noticed, but at the moment she didn`t really care to dwell on that thought.

"Shampoo must beat you. Earn big honor for tribe." So saying she lunged after Ryoko with her sword.

The winged girl was able to dodge Shampoo`s thrust and use the new hole in the front of the house to take to the sky.

"You no get away that easily." Shampoo shouted as she leapt after the flying.

Ranma took note of the fact that the last of his family members had fled the house. Though why Shampoo was after his new older sister he didn`t know, and didn`t have the luxury of asking. He didn`t think Shampoo even noticed him, but then he wasn`t exactly standing still waiting to be seen.

He was busy trying to keep Ryoga from destroying his mother`s house. He doubted very much that she would appreciate it being totaled twice in less than a year.

"Hey hold up! Hold on a minute, let`s take this outside!" Ranma tried to appeal to Ryoga`s logic with a plea to move the area of the fight.

Though logic was one thinking process that Ryoga seemed to lack as he kept up his attack on Ranma. Whether or not he realized it Ryoga was at an advantage fighting inside as he was mostly a ground fighter with short to medium range attacks, while fighting inside a house made it difficult for Ranma to make good use of his family style`s focus on mid-air combat. He also had to make sure that Ryoga's blows caused as little property damage as possible. As a result of this he found himself blocking more of Ryoga`s blows instead of outright dodging them, which caused him to take more damage and expend more energy than he normally would.

Ryoga himself seemed to be lost in a blind rage. Shouting "die" and "you will pay for what you`ve done" over and over again. He threw punches, kicks, elbow strikes, and an occasional headbutt Ranma`s way. Seeking to end the fight, Ranma dodged a headbutt and had just enough time to slam an elbow to the top of Ryoga`s exposed head. The blow seemed to knock some sense into Ryoga. He stopped his "die" mantra and fired a point blank shi shi hokodan at Ranma. Ranma had no time to dodge the attack and was forced to take the full impact of the ki blast. The force knocked him through a wall and into the kitchen. Smashing into a water source, namely the kitchen sink, Ranma was once again transformed into a girl.

"Blast it pig boy." Ranma growled "This is exactly what I didn`t want to happen."

Ryoga stayed where he was as the faucet was still spraying water, and getting wet and turning into P-Chan would bring a quick end to this fight. He took up stalking back forth just beyond the reach of the water. He taunted Ranma trying to goad him into leaving the reach of the water.

"C`mon Ranma. At least act like a man. Come and fight me."

Whether he would admit it or not, Ryoga's taunts about Ranma's manhood did have an affect on him. He quickly took stock of his situation. Between the hole in front that Shampoo had made, the hole in the inside wall courtesy of Ryoga, and the destroyed kitchen Ranma decided to throw caution to the wind and go all out.

"I`ve been wanting to try this out anyway." She muttered as she steadied herself. She launched a small ki blast at Ryoga who casually swatted it away.

At least he acted casual, but just the act of briefly touching the ki had nearly numbed his hand with the cold. The blast itself was weak and easy to take care of, but the numbing cold was something else. Ryoga wondered when Ranma had been able to use this level of cold with his ki, but these thoughts were interrupted as another ki blast hit him. No more powerful then the first one except that this one was burning hot. Struggling to adapt to the rapid temperature shift left Ryoga off-balance and vulnerable as more and more ki blasts peppered his body. First freezing cold than burning hot, back to cold and then back to hot. Ryoga struggled to stand up under the assault of at least a dozen small ki blasts and the rapid temperature shifts that accompanied each one . Finally Ranma made a twisting, thrusting motion with his hands and a horizontal whirlwind slammed into Ryoga like a freight train.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha Revised: Dragon`s Heavenly Charge" Ranma announced the name of her new attack to empty air as Ryoga had been knocked off his feet by the force of the blast.

He went flying out the other side of the house and was embedded in the nearest neighbor`s house. Said neighbor decided to use the insurance money he was sure to get to move to a quieter area of Tokyo. Perhaps Juuban, they only had the occasional youma attack instead of crazed martial arts battles.

Inside Nodoka`s now heavily damaged home Ranma paused for just a moment to catch her breath. The Dragon`s Heavenly Charge was definitely not the most energy efficient technique in her arsenal. Generating all that ki and the constantly shifting the temperature was rather tiring. She wanted to think that the technique had taken Ryoga down for the count, but she knew better. A hit like that wouldn`t stop her, so it wouldn`t stop Ryoga who had the resilience of a tank.

Ranma ran outside to intercept Ryoga and finish the fight. She was just barely outside when she dodged Ryoga`s umbrella that he had been thrown from somewhere nearby. Tracking the trajectory of the unusual projectile she spotted Ryoga some distance away. He was sporting some cuts and bruises but otherwise looked alright.

Ranma swore as she dodged another shi shi hokodan and a huge barrage of boomerang bandannas. The area covered by the attack was quite large, but the shi shi hokodan was the most dangerous attack. Ranma was able to avoid it, but this left her open to the ki-hardened bandannas.

Using amaguriken spped she was able to collect a number of bandannas, but the sheer volume of the attack was enough to get a few past Ranma`s defenses. She winced as several of the bandannas cut into her, but the wounds were not deep. She returned fire with the bandannas she had caught before, but Ryoga merely leapt over them. He closed in for a high axe kick, but Ranma rolled underneath the attack and behind Ryoga to deliver an amaguriken to his exposed back.

Ryoga went down from the attack, but he turned it into a roll and used the momentum to quickly turn the tables on Ranma. He struck a single finger from each of his hands into the ground to send a double breaking point attack to Ranma. She managed to jump over most the shrapnel, effectively putting some distance between herself and Ryoga. At the height of her jump she felt something wrap around her ankle and looked down to discover that Ryoga had taken a page from Kodachi's book of tricks.

He had taken off more of his bandannas (how many of those did he have anyway?) and quickly tied them together to create a makeshift whip. He pulled on his end of the whip to bring Ranma towards him. Ranma turned the momentum into a flying kick, but Ryoga stood his ground. What came next was completely unexpected.

Ryoga smiled a vicious smile and said "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken."

Ranma swore again as she was forced to use her feet to block Ryoga`s amaguriken punch. She hadn`t expected him to learn the kachu tenshin amaguriken, but he had apparently taught himself. At least it was slower than her own version of the attack, and she could block it with some quick footwork.

Ranma used the last of Ryoga`s amaguriken punches to vault into a backflip which gained some distance and took the end of the bandanna whip away from Ryoga`s reach. He charged at her ready to launch into a another amaguriken volley, but Ranma was faster. Making use of the bandanna whip still tied around her ankle she wrapped it around Ryoga`s hands and arms to seal their movement. With Ryoga`s arms tied up Ranma was able to quickly apply the same treatment to the rest of Ryoga. She left his head uncovered, but finished wrapping Ryoga with a nice big yellow bow with black spots. Ranma applied a steady stream of ki to keep the bandannas in their hardened state so Ryoga couldn`t break free.

"So" Ranma started in a conversational tone "Not that it really matters to me, but why do want to kill me this time?"

"You-You fiend! You dare ask me that? After all you`ve done you dare ask me WHY?" Ryoga raged

"Yeah, I dare a lot like that. Now are you going to tell me or what?"

Hours ago

"Kill him. He`s of no use to me."

Ryoga smiled a feral smile "Gladly."

He turned to walk away, only to turn around a moment later with a look of confusion on his face. "Wait. Why do you want Ranma dead?"

Ken Kanzuki opened a drawer at his desk and fished out a picture. It was the same photo that Nabiki had taken of Karin desperately trying to get her bra back.

"This is my daughter. Ranma Saotome, and the girl called Nabiki, are to blame for this grave humiliation that was visited on her. They attacked her without provocation. She just barely managed to escape their clutches before they could do worse."

Ryoga could feel his rage building as he looked at the picture. Ranma and Nabiki were going to pay. But a sudden thought hit him.

"Nabiki? Akane Tendo`s sister Nabiki?" Ryoga asked

Ken Kanzuki just nodded.

"You`re not going to hurt her are you?"

"Of course not." Ken Kanzuki said with a shake of his head "I merely want her to sincerely apologize to my daughter."

"All right then." Ryoga said "I`ll bring Nabiki Tendo to you. Along with Ranma Saotome`s broken body."

"It needn`t be in one piece." Ken Kanzuki said

"Even better." Ryoga said as the feral smile returned to his face.

Present time

As Ryoga came back from his memory he could feel knuckles rapping against his head and he heard Ranma`s voice.

"Hey! Anybody home?"

Coming back to reality he found Ranma's face inches from his own while her knuckles knocked on his head like one might to check the alertness of the receiver.

"Would you stop that?" Ryoga snarled and snapped at Ranma as she kept knocking on his head.

"You`ve been spaced out for like five minutes. It`s kinda creepy." Ranma said "You ready to tell me now why you wanna kill me this time?"

"Die Ranma!" Ryoga snapped and literally tried to bite Ranma`s hand as he withdrew it from knocking on Ryoga`s skull.

"Yeah, you`re useless. Say g`night P-Chan" Ranma casually slammed Ryoga`s head into her knee to knock him out.

With Ryoga out for a while. Ranma took the liberty of digging through his pack for a thermos of hot water he carried around for emergency P-Chan situations. Hearing a female cry of pain Ranma was reminded of Shampoo`s earlier appearance and the fact that she was currently fighting with his new found older sister. Quickly using the hot water she found to transform back into his birth form Ranma sought out Shampoo and Ryoko.

He found them a short distance away. Shampoo was standing over Ryoko who was obviously in pain. Shampoo had gotten in a good shot with her chui to one of Ryoko`s wings. Hence the cry of pain and why Ryoko was on the ground instead of in the air.

"You give up Amazon treasure now thief girl?" Shampoo asked

[I can`t. You don`t realize how dangerous it is.] Ryoko answered in Mandarin.

This only seemed to make Shampoo angrier. [You will not sully my language with your lying tongue thief!] She moved to strike Ryoko with her chui.

"Shampoo stop!" Ranma yelled as he intercepted her strike. With a quick touch to Shampoo`s chui and sword Ranma triggered their respective breaking points rendering them both useless.

"Airen?" Shampoo asked "Why Airen help thief girl? And how he know breaking point technique?"

"Ryoga`s used that one on me enough that I figured it out months ago." Ranma said brushing off the question. "Now I don`t know what this is about a "thief girl" but I won`t let you hurt my sister." Over his shoulder Ranma looked at Ryoko. "You all right?"

"Yeah" Ryoko replied with a wince "My wing`s broken, but I just need a little time to heal it."

Looking from Ranma to Ryoko and back again Shampoo finally saw the family resemblance.

"Airen has sister? And is thief girl?"

"Why do you call her a thief?" Ranma asked.

"Perhaps I can explain that Son-in-Law."

Everyone was quite surprised to hear Cologne`s voice as she had managed to arrive completely undetected by anyone. Turning to Shampoo she spoke quickly in Mandarin. [Grandaughter I remember expressly forbidding you from pursuing this path. Your actions here will have serious consequences.] Switching to Japanese Cologne looked at the woman who was just arriving at the scene. "Hello Nodoka. It would seem we have a lot to talk about."

Nodoka took in the scene around her and then looked at the Amazon elder. "It would seem we do old friend."

**End Notes: ** This was my first time trying to write a big battle scene and I hope it came off well. I would really like to know what you readers have to say so if you can spare a couple minutes hit the review button in the corner of this fic and write some thoughts down.

Libri Ignis: I mean no offense at what I'm about to say, and I hope you don't take offense either, but it made me extremely happy to know that I tricked you into thinking that Nodoka was Shampoo's target. That means my job as an author and my intentional misdirection off of the real target was a success. Thanks a lot for the review.

Special Thanks to Richard Riley. He and I have been communicating back forth for a little while. We don't quite see eye to eye on a few things, but the points he brings up make me really think about why I have my characters do the things they do and if it really fits their established personalities.

Until next time people.

Mysterious One D


	7. Aftermath

Okay, I know it really hasn't been all that long since I posted the last chapter, but I wanted to get this one out. It's actually taking me a lot longer than I originally thought to get where I want to go with this story. I wanted to get to Ryoko and her history in Chapter 3, but there's a lot to work out. I'm going to say this here because some people probably don't read the end notes, but there will probably be only one more chapter update after this one before Christmas. I'm going to be traveling home to the states (I live in Japan right now) for my break and it's going to get busy during the holidays. I promise I will continue updating this story as I am enjoying writing it. I have a lot more planned for this story (at least another ten chapters I'd say) so I won't stop writing anytime soon. With all that said here's some legal mumbo jumbo: I don't own Ranma 1/2 and I I use the characters without the express written consent of the author or any owner of the franchise. I make no money from this and I write purely for my own amusement and the amusement of others like myself. On with the show.

Chapter 7

"Would you like some more tea?" Cologne asked the woman across from her.

"Thank you I would love some more tea Cologne." Nodoka said.

The two women were currently seated across from each other at a table in the upstairs living area of the Nekohanten. After Cologne had shown up at the ruins of Nodoka`s house all fighting had abruptly ceased. Cologne had suggested they all head back to the Nekohanten. Nodoka had agree and since then all talk, save a few small pleasantries, had ceased.

Sitting beside Nodoka was Genma who was munching on his third plate of snacks. Ranma was sitting against the wall with Ryoko and Nabiki on either side of him. And Shampoo was sitting to Cologne`s right ready to jump up and get anything Cologne might need. She kept stealing glances over to the wall where her two targets were. She sent alternating looks of anger and love towards Ryoko and Ranma respectively.

Ranma had tried asking Ryoko how she and Shampoo knew each other, but she had clammed up. Similarly Shampoo was not in a talking mood. She had only nodded when Cologne told her to make tea and snacks for the visitors to the restaurant. It had been over an hour since they had arrived at the Nekohanten, and more since Cologne had shown up claiming to know answers to questions Ranma had.

The silence was beginning to get to him; he had never really liked silence since coming to Nerima as it always came before the large storms of craziness that had been his life for the last year and a half. He was on the verge of leaping up and demanding to know what was going on when he felt Nabiki put a restraining hand on him. She motioned for him to wait and just be quiet for a little while longer. He grudgingly agreed to do so, and his patience was rewarded a little while later when Cologne broke the silence.

"So it`s Nodoka _**Saotome**_ now is it?" she asked the woman across from her.

"Yes" Nodoka said, not volunteering any details.

"And how long ago did _that_ happen?"

"Twenty Years ago."

"And how many of those years have you actually spent with your husband?" Cologne questioned.

"About eight."

"You must be really dedicated to your children, Crimsonwing, if you spent eight years with that." Cologne said pointing one wrinkled and bony finger at Genma.

Genma paused in his eating trying to decide if he should respond at all to the implied insult from Cologne. After half a minute he simply shrugged and went back to eating.

"I am very dedicated to my children," Nodoka said with a smile "but I am also dedicated to my husband." She looked at Cologne with a smile that spoke of a long history with each other before she spoke again. "After all Col-chan, you know how strange love can be sometimes."

"Yes, I suppose so." Cologne said in a tired voice. Indicating Ranma and Ryoko against the wall she spoke again. "I had no idea that the two biggest problems in my life for the last twenty years were related. Though given their parentage I suppose I shouldn`t be so surprised. Your son strongly takes after you, and your daughter has more in common with her Father than I like."

This time Genma did take offense "Hey!" was all he got out before Nodoka hushed him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, first from young Shampoo and now you Col-chan." Nodoka asked.

Instead of answering Nodoka directly, Cologne turned her attention to Ryoko. "Ravenwing, I believe you have something that belongs to the tribe don`t you?"

Ryoko immediately assumed a posture of humble submission as she answered Cologne`s question in Mandarin. Yes, Elder.

Cologne chuckled a little bit at the display. "It`s good that you haven`t forgotten your manners Ravenwing, but for our guests` sakes let`s keep this conversation in Japanese shall we?"

"Yes, Elder." Ryoko repeated in Japanese.

"Good. Now will you admit to what item you have in your possession?"

Ryoko squirmed a bit, but Cologne`s tone demanded an answer. "It was the egg, Elder. The egg at the altar."

Nodoka looked shocked at this admission. "Young lady you had better have a very good reason why you took that artifact."

Ryoko started to say something, but Nabiki cut her off before she could get far. "Sorry, but there those of us here who are out of the loop. What are we talking about?"

Cologne sent a harsh look Nabiki`s way as if she just noticed the Tendo girl was in the room. "Child this is not your business. I suggest you leave while those of us actually connected to this can speak freely."

Nabiki was about to concede her defeat, but Ranma spoke up in a surprising defense of her. "Hey Old Ghoul. You`re talking about my sister. That means I gotta stake in this to, and Nabiki is my friend so I say she can hear whatever it is you got to say. And she ain`t the only one who wants to know why you and Mom are acting all friendly."

Colonge looked like she had a retort ready, but it died on her lips when Nodoka spoke up. "My son raises a fair point Cologne. The Tendo family has been a great support for the Saotome family. It would not do to pointlessly antagonize them, and I owe Ranma an explanation for many things."

Shampoo was shocked to say the least. Her Great-grandmother, the person whose words were without question to her, had just been put in her place by this woman. It wasn`t until an hour ago that she put together that the mother of the thief and the mother of her beloved were one and the same. Not only that but she spoke to her Great-grandmother as an equal. Even in the village there were very few aside from the very Matriarch of the tribe that would do that. Such was Cologne`s position in the tribe, and now apparently this Nodoka held a similar position.

"All right." Cologne conceded. "But we will be discussing matters of a sensitive nature. I ask that you not speak of what you hear."

"You have my word." Nabiki promised.

"Good enough." Cologne said and took a long drink of her tea. Looking back to Nodoka she spoke again. "Perhaps, as your son suggested, we should start at the very beginning Nodoka Crimsonwing."

"Of course Ku-Lon of the Joketsuzoku" Nodoka said. The Mandarin pronunciation flowed off Nodoka`s tongue easily as she began to relate a story.

"I was born a long time ago in the demon realm. My father was a powerful demon lord who controlled a large portion of the demon realm. At birth I was named Crimson of the wing clan. At that time my hair was more the color of Ranma`s when he is in his cursed form than what it is now. That too, I suppose, is an effect of the sealing that took place only a few decades after my birth."

"Decades?" Ranma asked

"Yes, my son. Demons have a rather long life-span. In my youth I was wild, willful and naive. My father forbade me from going to the human realm so of course I went whenever I could. While in the human realm I met Cologne, and we became very good friends."

"I was barely older than you are now Shampoo." Cologne put in. "I was on a journey to see the world outside the village."

"How you meet?" Shampoo asked unable to help herself. She was a sucker for drama.

"Cologne saved me from a group of bandits." Nodoka said "As I said my father forbade me from going to the human realm. He had a strong hatred for and distrust of humans, but I was young and headstrong. I snuck off to the human realm whenever I could. I was bound to get caught sooner or later. mans. He caught me coming back into the demon realm one day. He claimed I stank of humans and he demanded I stop going to the human realm. I refused for I had fallen in love with a young man in the human realm."

"Uncle Saotome?" Nabiki asked

"No, he wasn`t even born yet when this happened. This man was a young warlord I happened to meet. He never really loved me, only the power that a demon like me possessed. I refused my father`s wishes because I thought this young warlord loved me. My father was furious and ordered that if I loved humans so much I could live as one. He had the best mage he could find seal my demon blood. I was trapped in a human form, and banished from my father`s realm. I went to the young lord for comfort, but he wouldn`t acknowledge me as a human. He only wanted the power and prestige that would come to him from "taming" a demon. I was cast out of his kingdom and forced to wander the land with no place to call home."

Cologned added her part to the story "I first met her as Nodoka Crimsonwing, for Nodoka was the name given to her by the warlord. She was still new to the human world and didn`t know very much of humans. A group of bandits found her in the wilderness. They were trying to turn her into their slave. I stopped them and took her to the village, which was the only safe place I could think of for someone so unused to humans."

Nodoka took up the story once again. "I lived there for some time before it became apparent that what my father had only sealed my demon abilities beyond my reach, and had not taken them away completely. Had my demon heritage been forcibly stripped from me I would have aged like normal human, but as the years went on it became apparent that I was aging at a much slower rate. Slower even than the elders who used their control over ki to extend their lifespans."

"So when did you meet Pop?" Ranma asked.

"Many of the Amazon elders took exception to my presence in the village. After it became apparent that I would long outlive them they forced me to leave the village. I returned to Japan and wandered the country for some time. Eventually I settled in an interesting little place called Nerima. Not long after I saw your father. He was peeping on the women in the public bath, but he looked so manly while doing so."

"Peeping on the women in the bath?" Cologne questioned Genma who hadn`t been paying much attention.

"I was trying to find the Master! I swear!" Genma babbled.

Cologne looked at the heavy-set martial artist with scorn. "How one such as you ever entranced Nodoka and raised the boy I`ll never know."

"Cologne, that is my husband and I do love him." Nodoka reminded the Amazon elder.

A single, undignified snort was Cologne`s only reaction to Nodoka`s gentle chastisement.

Nodoka took that as approval to continue her story. "Soon after we met Genma and I were married. We were married for only a year before I became pregnant. During my pregnancy Genma and Soun left with their master on an extended training trip."

Surprisingly at this point Genma broke into the story. "With my child on the way I could't let someone like the Master roam free. Tendo and I left intent on sealing the Master away forever." Most of the group assembled were astounded at the actual nobility of Genma's past actions.

After a brief pause to let her husband's words sink in Nodoka continued. "I was on bed rest for the last two months of my pregnancy and I called for Cologne to help with the delivery. I also wanted her there in case something went wrong. I didn`t know how my demon blood would interact with Genma`s human blood."

Cologne took up part of the story again "The delivery was as normal as any I`d seen. It was only when the child was out that I saw the wings for the first time."

"Yes" Nodoka started in again "Like I said last night. Ryoko was born with wings. I knew then that my child had inherited some of my demon blood. I couldn`t let Genma find out. I feared he would hate me like the young warlord had when he found out I was other than what I claimed to be. I swore Cologne to secrecy on the child and told her to take Ryoko back to the village and raise her there. One day I planned to tell the truth, but I couldn`t at that time. When Genma returned I told him Ryoko was stillborn, and we mourned together.

One year later I became pregnant again. When the moment of birth came for this child, you Ranma, I had Genma wait outside in case you were born with obvious demon traits. I also had one of the mystics from the Amazon village act as my nurse this time. Ranma was born without any obvious demon traits, but to be sure I had the mystic seal away your demon side until your eighteenth birthday. Though I believe your exposure to Jusenkyo may have caused the seal to weaken and slip some."

Ranma said nothing as he slowly let the information sink in. It wasn`t until Nabiki spoke up again that Ranma realized some time had passed.

"What happened to Ryoko?" Nabiki asked.

"I took her to the village where she was raised as any girl should be." Cologne said "Though perhaps, we should hear more of the story from the source itself."

All eyes turned towards the girl with the black and red hair. "All right." Ryoko said.

She drew in a deep breath and slowly started her story. "I lived the first ten years of my life in the Amazon village."

"But you no Amazon! Only outsider!" Shampoo interrupted. She had patiently heard out the Mother`s story out of respect to her and the bond she shared with her Great-grandmother, but there was no reason she needed to show respect to the thief girl.

Xian Pu, you have said and done quite enough today. Sit down and hold your tongue child. Cologne chastised her Great-granddaughter.

"Please continue Ryoko. Shampoo will not interrupt again." Nodoka said.

Ryoko sent her mother a quick look of gratitude before continuing. "I always knew I was a half-demon. What with having wings and all it was fairly obvious. All the villagers called me Ravenwing."

"It was the clan name I gave you alongside your human name." Nodoka said

"You can hide your wings." Nabiki pointed out. "Why weren`t they hidden when you were younger?"

"I didn`t learn how to do that until after I left the village, and only then out of necessity. It`s kind of uncomfortable." Ryoko said "Mom wrote letters, a lot of letters, to me as I grew up in the village. I learned to read and write because of those letters. Mom never hid anything from me; she told me all about my little brother and how he was working hard to become a great martial artist. I wanted to work hard to, but I wasn`t very good at martial arts. I took up magic instead, and I learned a lot from the village magic users. I decided that one day I`m gonna break the seal on Mom`s powers. I learned a lot about magic at the village and I loved life there."

"So why`d ya leave?" Ranma asked.

"I had to. On my tenth birthday I was allowed into the Temple of the Three Sisters."

"A coming of age ritual." Cologne clarified for Ranma, Nabiki, and Genma.

Ryoko nodded. "That`s where I first saw the egg and felt it`s power."

"Child, not one of our mystics has ever felt anything from it." Cologne said "As far as the village elders and the Matriarch are concerned the egg is an inert artifact. It is a necessary part of the coming of age ceremony." Colognes spoke in a carefully measured tone. Her voice held no condemnation, but there was no compassion either.

"I know Elder, and I don`t know why I`m the only one who can feel the power from the egg. I only know that it`s powerful and alive. Something was waking up, and it didn`t feel like a good thing. That`s why I had to take it."

"What happened after you took the egg?" Nabiki asked. She wanted to know more about this Amazon treasure.

"I ran." Ryoko said "I`ve been trying to hide with it since then. I spent a few years at a magic school called Mahora that had a magical barrier, and then there was Youkai academy which exists in a completely separate dimension. I was able to rest for a little at both those places, but eventually somebody from the tribe would find me."

"Our trackers are very good." Cologne said "There are very few places on earth that one could hide them. At least, without help."

Ryoko gave Cologne a strange look at that last sentence, but she refused to elaborate. Eventually she continued her story.

"I always kept in contact with Mom. She told me all about when she finally saw you last year, and about the chaos in Nerima. I hoped all the weirdness would hide all trace of my or the egg`s trail."

"It was a decent plan child." Cologne said "It might even have worked, had not Shampoo and I already been here."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ryoko said "You didn`t track me, because you were here before I was."

"I was wondering something similar myself." Nodoka put in "It`s unlike you Cologne to stray so far from home in your advanced age."

Cologne chose to ignore the friendly jab from Nodoka and said "We are here to collect your son for the village."

"Why?" Nodoka asked.

"Ranma is Shampoo airen!" Shampoo said as she glomped Ranma and clang to him tighter than any industrial strength adhesive.

"Airen? Beloved?" Nodoka looked at Ranma. "Explain why Shampoo claims you as her intended when you are already engaged to one of the Tendo sisters."

"Well, it`s all Pop`s fault." Ranma said

"Your engagement to Shampoo?" Nodoka asked

"That and all the other engagements." Ranma said

"Other engagements?" Nodoka asked. "Tell me."

Ranma launched into his own story of how he became engaged to Ukyo, the martial arts takeout girl, and Shampoo.

Nodoka`s only outward reaction to the story Ranma told was a tight, white-knuckle grip on the sword at her side. Her face was a mask of calm, but the steel edge in her voice betrayed the boiling stew of emotions that lay underneath the surface.

"I must take my leave of here now. There are things I must _discuss _with my husband. And I imagine you have several issues of your own you wish to discuss with your great-granddaughter in private as this is the second time she has played a part in damaging my house. And I have also not forgotten that she has hurt my daughter. That is not something I can overlook easily."

"Do as you must." Cologne said "I will see that the appropriate punishment is administered on these matters. We will lay aside the matter of the egg for now. I will trust you Nodoka to not stray too far with it."

Nodoka rose from her seat and bowed to the ancient woman. "Your trust is not misplaced. Upon my honor I vow that the debt my daughter has incurred shall be repayed."

"Very well." Cologne said "I accept your vow. Now I must deal with my own rebellious great granddaughter."

Shampoo saw mush unpleasantness in her future and could only sympathize with Genma. Somehow the man had managed to find cold water to change him into a panda. He held up a sing that read *Please don`t hurt the cuddly panda.* Nodoka ignored the sign and used some strength that belied her slight build and literally dragged the panda away by the scruff of his neck. The sign in Genma`s hand was changed to *Please don't drag the cuddly panda!.* As they got further away he flipped the sign one more time and the final reading was *HELP ME!* Shampoo wished she could borrow that sign as her great-grandmother advanced on her.

End Notes: I know this chapter was very long and full of exposition but I felt like I needed to get the exposition out there. I honestly went back and forth for quite a while on whether or not to have a flashback or Nodoka's exposition dump. In the end it came down to Nodoka just telling her backstory because the flashback kept going really long. I hope all of you out there enjoyed this chapter because it was kind of a pain for me to write it. I really wanted to get on to the more interesting parts of the story, but this had to come first. I promise you there are some very interesting things ahead for this group. Also, some of you may point out that my timing is a bit off as Genma and Soun don't seal Happosai in the cave until Ranma and Akane are about four or five, but it's only a minor change to the overall timeline. I did want to give Genma just one truly noble moment.

linkgold 64: I'm glad that my attempts at humor made you laugh. Thanks for the review and keep on reading. If you feel inclined to do so drop another review.

This has already gone on for over 4000 words so I'll simply say thanks for reading and ask that you spare a moment or two to let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Mysterious One D


	8. Back to the Tendo's

Okay, I know I said there would be another chapter before Christmas. Obviously, things didn`t work out like that. The holidays went by a lot faster than I thought they would, but I managed to get some writing done. So you lucky people now get two new chapters for the price of one. How `bout them apples huh? I own nothing and I write this because I want to and the ideas won`t leave me alone otherwise. Stupid pesky imagination.

Chapter Eight

As Nabiki and the Saotome family walked away from the Nekohanten they each became absorbed in their own thoughts. Nabiki and Ranma were both trying to digest the information they had been given in the past few hours. Nabiki`s thoughts were mostly on the egg that Ryoko had apparently stolen from the Amazon village. She had seen enough in the past year and a half to know that Amazon artifacts rarely led to good things happening, and most involved some sort of trouble for Ranma and everyone around him. As his friend now she was fair game for any chaos that seemed to follow Ranma like a magnet. She had already been kidnapped once on that stupid island, although that was hardly an unpleasant experience. She just didn`t want to end up being tied up in pantyhose, cursed to turn into a duck, or drowned in a magic pool of water.

Ranma`s thoughts were more along the lines of adjusting to the idea of being a half-demon and having an older sister. His mother had said that the seal on his demon side was active until he turned eighteen so he decided to practice the same strategy with this as he did for everything else that went weird or wrong in his life. That strategy being, ignore it until he couldn`t anymore, and he could ignore problems for a very long time. It was the sister part that was really throwing his mind for a loop.

For as long as he could remember it had only been him and his Pops. For ten years he wandered from place to place and learned various martial arts styles and techniques. Genma and the art was all he had. Ucchan had been part of his world for a little while, but he barely remembered those days. There was also the time at the old middle school where he met Ryoga, but he was barely there for a month before they had moved on and were heading to China. Coming to Nerima he had been exposed to a whole new world of friends, rivals, fiancées and nutcases. It was exciting and not anything like the years he spent wandering with his Pop, but at his core he was still the same loner he had been when he first came.

His friends, mainly Daisuke and Hiroshi, he wasn`t really close to. The rivals like Ryoga and Mousse were really more of his friends than Hiroshi and Daisuke as he spent more time with them, and knew them better than the other two guys who just hung around with him to get a peek at his girl side every now and then. The fiancées were a stress he didn`t want. He had never known a girl before coming to Nerima (in his mind little Ucchan still existed as a good guy friend), and having four them all trying to get him to settle down and get married was terrifying. The nutcases he could deal with. They were stress relief in a way. It was just the women that terrified him, almost as much as those horrid four-legged furballs, and that`s why he was hesitant to embrace the idea of a sister.

Oblivious to her brother`s discomfort with women Ryoko walked along behind Ranma. Walking on something as thin as the top of a fence was difficult for Ryoko, but she managed to balance herself when she needed to with her wings. Her own thoughts, despite the sudden appearance of Shampoo and Cologne, were more or less happy thoughts. She finally got to meet the brother she had read so much about, and the Father she had read about once or twice. She was quite excited about getting to know Ranma, and was very curious about all the girls he claimed he was engaged to. Shampoo she knew. She had practically grown up with Shampoo, and the years between their last meeting and their most current one had not dulled her desire and ambition to be a powerful warrior. Shampoo was still as strong as she was years ago. The dull ache in Ryoko`s wing served to remind her of Shampoo`s skill as well. She was just glad her demon side allowed her to heal faster than a normal human, otherwise her wing would still be broken. Of course, if she was a regular human she wouldn`t have wings.

That was an idea that just made her sad. She couldn`t imagine life without wings, but she hid them when she had to. It was tricky and uncomfortable, but doable. Just after they left the Nekohanten Ranma had told her she could probably keep her wings out, and she was okay with that because she really didn`t want to hide them when one wing just finished healing after Shampoo broke it. He said people in Nerima were used to odd sights, but she didn`t really believe him. Who wouldn`t question seeing a girl with wings coming out of her back? However, the people who passed by the group gave no notice or simply politely greeted Nodoka without acknowledging the flailing panda being dragged behind her. Ryoko silently decided that she could leave her wings out.

Nodoka herself was deep in thought about how to deal with the various engagements her husband had gotten Ranma tied up in. Historically, the first one would be the verbal agreement between Soun and Genma. This was the agreement that she knew of beforehand and favored herself. She had been good friends with Soun`s late wife, and would love to see the two families united in marriage. Though she thought that she might have to rethink the Tendo agreement if Nabiki`s story was true. Next came the agreement with the Kuonjis to wed Ranma and Ukyo. Nodoka had never formally met Ukyo, but had heard good things of her from Ranma. This engagement was given weight by the fact that Genma had taken the okonomiyaki cart. Ranma had said that Ukyo received full compensation for the cart during the previous year and a half, but the fact remained that Genma had accepted the dowry in the first place. This fact alone placed a certain obligation on him to uphold the agreement. At least the martial arts takeout family agreement had been dissolved by the other family. This only left the betrothal to Shampoo.

Having a certain knowledge of Amazon rules from her time living in the village she realized that the marriage wasn`t finalized until it was consummated. Nodoka highly doubted that Ranma and Shampoo had already consummated their marriage. She doubted that Ranma had gotten that far with any girl as he still had troubles peeking on his fiancé in the bath. This slight lack of manliness did concern her, but she pushed the thoughts aside. Thinking more on the Amazon engagement Nodoka realized that if the marriage had indeed been consummated Cologne would probably not waste time trying to coerce Ranma back to the village. She was quite certain that if she needed to, Cologne could physically drag Ranma back to the village. Underneath all these thoughts and feelings, Nodoka was just so happy her son was manly enough to have so many girls chasing after him.

Genma`s thoughts were mostly occupied with keeping his behind off the ground. Nodoka hadn`t stopped dragging him since they left the Nekohanten, and the friction from the pavement was doing a number on his furry hide.

"So where are we going to stay now Mom?" Ryoko asked. "The house has gaping holes in it."

Nodoka frowned at that. She hadn`t really thought of where she was going after leaving Cologne`s little restaurant. She needed a private place to give Genma a piece of her mind.

Nabiki sighed at the lack of thought from the Saotome family. She hadn`t really planned on going back home until the situation with the Kanzuki`s was cleared up, but there really wasn`t much choice. "I`ll call Daddy and Kasumi. It`ll be a little crowded Auntie, but you and Ryoko can stay at my house for a while."

Nodoka smiled at Nabiki. "Thank you Nabiki. We will accept your generous offer."

"Let me just call Kasumi and let her know we`re coming." Nabiki said pulling her phone out of her pocket. Nabiki walked a few feet off to call her older sister while the rest of the assembled group stood by to listen to Nabiki`s end of the conversation.

"Kasumi? It`s Nabiki... Yeah, I`m okay... I was at Auntie Nodoka`s place... Yes, she fed us... Yes she cooked enough. She`s used to their appetites... Listen, I`m coming home with Ranma, Uncle Genma, and Auntie Nodoka. They`re going to be staying with us for a while... Well her house was damaged in a fight... Yes, again... wait, don`t hang up yet Kasumi. There`s more. Ranma`s older sister is coming with us too... Well he didn`t even know about her until last night...ugh, is he wandering around the house in that samurai armor again? All right, do your best to calm him down and we`ll be there soon."

Nabiki closed her phone and sighed wearily.

"Something wrong Nabiki?" Nodoka asked.

"It`s daddy. He was waiting for Uncle Genma to bring Ranma home, and now he`s in full "righteous indignation" mode. He`s not going to be happy when we get back."

Nodoka smiled at the younger girl`s frustration. She well remembered how emotional Soun could get. "I suppose we should be ready for his special technique then?"

"Yeah, probably." Nabiki said and sighed again. "It`s just so embarrassing. Why can`t he act his age?"

Walking along the fence behind her younger brother Ryoko spoke up. "What`s this special technique he has?"

"You`ll see when we get there." Ranma said from up ahead. "But Ma, I think you better let Pops walk on his own feet now. I think you scraped all the fuzz off his butt."

"Hm? Oh, I suppose you`re right Ranma." Nodoka said as she released Genma from her grip. "Come along husband."

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" These were the first words spoken to Ranma and company as they arrived at the gate to the Tendo compound. Soun had been indeed wandering around the house, acting out sentry duty while waiting for Genma to bring Ranma back. Having been kept waiting for hours Soun`s first response was to use the demon head technique. Having completely ignored Kasumi`s report beyond hearing that Nabiki and Ranma were returning home he wasn`t expecting Nodoka or a new girl with strange hair and wings to be with them.

Nabiki looked suitably embarrassed at her father`s lack of self-control. Nodoka and Ranma were fairly nonplussed at the sight, while Genma attempted to hide behind his wife. The only unexpected reaction was that of Ryoko who promptly burst into uncontrollable laughter at the sight of Soun`s monstrous demon head technique.

Speaking between breaths the winged girl attempted to explain her curious reaction to the technique. "Amazon... technique... for...scaring...little boys!"

Soun's head promptly deflated back to it`s original state, much like a balloon deflates after one lets all the air out. This caused another round of laughs from Ryoko and even a few chuckles from Ranma who couldn`t help but share his newfound sister`s mirth.

"Um, I`m sorry but who are you?" a thoroughly confused Soun Tendo asked the laughing girl.

"Come on Daddy. Let`s go inside and I`ll explain everything." Nabiki said as she navigated her father by the arm to the front door of the house.

As soon as everyone was inside Kasumi came out of the kitchen. She greeted each of the new entries into the house in her own cheerful manner. "Welcome home Nabiki and Ranma, and thank you for coming Auntie Saotome." Kasumi didn`t even bat an eye as she took in the winged girl standing beside Nodoka. "You must be Ranma`s sister. It`s a pleasure to meet you. I`m Kasumi Tendo, Nabiki`s older sister." The homemaker girl bowed low.

"I`m Ryoko Saotome. I`m sorry for intruding." The girl said while returning Kasumi`s bow.

"Not at all." Kasumi said and then looked at the last member of the group. "Uncle Saotome please wipe your paws carefully. If you would like I can have the bath ready in a few minutes. I was in the middle of making dinner, but it won`t take long."

"Thank you Kasumi, but that won`t be necessary. My husband will be eating with us as he is." Nodoka said "For now I`ll help you finish dinner and then we can talk." Nodoka ushered the oldest Tendo girl into the kitchen.

Soon thereafter, dinner was served. Ranma ate his dinner at a fast pace, but not the breakneck speeds he usually did as he didn`t have to worry about his father stealing his food while in panda form. At the table Akane refused to talk to or even acknowledge Ranma, which was not out of the ordinary after having a fight or catching Ranma in any sort of compromising situation. After dinner Nabiki explained the events of the previous night, carefully editing out details like the group that had attacked her and Ranma getting shot. Nodoka took up the story of the morning`s events, and gave a shortened version of her history and details about Ryoko to Soun.

After hearing the story of how Nodoka`s house was more or less totaled, again, he nodded his head and clapped his hands dramatically.

"Well that settles it." He said, "Nodoka, you and your daughter are welcome to stay with us as long as you need to. I`m afraid the only room available besides the spare room Ranma and Genma use is the attic."

"Father" Kasumi put in "Grandfather Happosai uses that room to store his...collections."

Soun blanched at the mention of his master and stammered out "Yes...well...I`m sure we can figure...something...out."

Disregarding Soun`s nervousness Nodoka bowed to Soun "Thank you for your hospitality. I believe I will take up the spare room with my husband. We have much to talk about."

"Ryoko can share my room." Nabiki volunteered. The sudden bout of altruism surprised Ranma and the other Tendos, but nobody decided to question it for the time being.

"Right, then it`s settled." Soun said. "Nodoka and Genma can have the guest room, Miss Ryoko can stay with Nabiki and Ranma will stay with Akane."

"Oh no he won`t." Akane practically growled. "I don`t want to share a room with that pervert. Again."

"I gotta go with Akane on this one." Ranma said ignoring the pervert comment. Any attempt to defend himself would just create a big argument that he really didn`t want any part of.

Akane threw a surprised look at Ranma when he failed to speak up for himself. She should have felt happy or justified that Ranma was taking the insult. Instead the lack of a reaction on his part just made her frown.

Soun was taken aback by Akane and Ranma`s words. Surely two people who were meant to be together should be happy about having some alone time together.

"B-b-but why?" He managed to blubber out.

Nodoka interfered before Soun could completely break down into waterworks. "At present, with three legally binding engagements I also believe it would be best for Ranma to sleep elsewhere."

Soun managed to restrain himself from breaking into tears at Nodoka`s words, but still managed to look absolutely crestfallen as his hopes for joining the schools were delayed yet again.

With that dinner was over and Kasumi and Nodoka set about cleaning up the table, and Akane took that as her cue to ask the older Saotome girl what she had wanted to since she heard of the girl`s early life.

"Hey Ryoko, you said you grew up in the Amazon village right?" she asked.

"Yep, I lived there for ten years before I started going to school in Japan." the older girl answered in a cheery tone.

"So you know martial arts right?"

"Yeah, kinda." Ryoko answered hesitantly.

"Let`s spar together!" Akane suggested

"I don`t know. I`m not really very good."

"That`s okay! Come on!" Akane practically dragged the older girl to the dojo. Once there they went into a storage closet near the entrance.

"I have some old gis in here. We can change here." Akane said handing Ryoko a gi. She started to undress, but stopped and looked over at Ryoko. "You are really a girl right?"

"Um, yeah. Last time I checked. Why?" Ryoko asked suddenly very confused about being asked such an odd question.

"Never mind. It`s okay." the blue-haired girl replied.

"Okay." Ryoko said as she looked at the gi top. "Say Akane?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I cut some holes in this top? You know, for my wings."

"You can`t just make them disappear or something?"

"Well, I could pull them in, but I`d rather have them out if we`re going to spar."

"Why`s that?"

Ryoko thought for a moment on how best to express her reasons to Akane. "Imagine if you had to spar with one hand tied behind your back. You could fight like that, but it would be much harder and it would affect how you move. For me, these wings are completely natural. I grew up with them and I trained with them. They`re a part of me just as much as my arms or legs."

"I see." Akane said "In that case go ahead. It`s old gi anyway."

Ryoko produced a small knife from thin air and use it to cut two gashes in the back of the gi top so her wings could poke through. Once finished the knife disappeared again, and the two girls walked into the fighting area of the dojo.

They started at opposite ends of the room and bowed to each other. Akane waited only a few seconds to launch her attack. She charged at the older girl with a straight punch, but Ryoko turned it aside. Akane dropped into a foot sweep, but Ryoko jumped over it. Akane thought she had the upper hand since Ryoko had nowhere to go but back down. However, Ryoko slowed her descent slightly by extending her wings. Her hang time was extended just enough so that Akane`s kick, which normally would have caught a falling enemy in the ribs, was blocked with Ryoko`s leg.

Once Ryoko`s feet touched the ground again she went on the offensive. She used her wings to distract and disorient Akane. She would lash out with a wing and Akane would move to block or avoid the blow which left her open for the real strike from Ryoko. Fortunately, the force behind Ryoko`s blows was minimal as they were only sparring. Ryoko kept this up until Akane caught on to the tactic and started to anticipate the follow up blow. When this happened she switched gears and jumped up into the air.

She used her wings to keep herself in the air long enough so that she could come down in Akane`s blind spot. She managed to knock the younger girl off balance and sent her stumbling a little ways away. Akane managed to stabilize herself and quickly fought back. As they exchanged blows it was clear that Akane had the advantage in power and stamina, but Ryoko`s wings gave her a unique advantage, and eventually the older girl`s skill won out and she managed to catch Akane in a hold. Unable to break the hold Akane was forced to concede the match. Nevertheless she did so with a smile.

As Ryoko released Akane from her hold the sound of clapping could be heard from the side of the dojo. The two girls turned to see Nabiki leaning casually against a wall.

"Not bad. It`s been a while since anyone could fight Akane at her level."

"What`s up Nabiki?" Akane asked "You didn`t come here to watch the fight."

"Kasumi asked me to let you know the bath is ready." Nabiki answered. "Why don`t you take the first turn Akane? I want to talk to Ryoko for a moment."

Akane shrugged and headed out of the dojo to the main house. Once she was out of earshot Nabiki turned to Ryoko. The winged girl wore a quizzical expression on her face, but said nothing for the moment.

"I wanted to talk to you about that egg you mentioned earlier at the Nekohanten." Nabiki said

Ryoko`s expression darkened at the mention of the egg. "I don`t really want to talk about it."

"But it`s dangerous right?" Nabiki pressed

Ryoko bit her lip and looked away trying to avoid the question, but Nabiki chose to wait her out. The question weighed heavily in the air as the silence dragged on until finally, and with great reluctance, Ryoko spoke.

"I don`t know. Maybe."

Nabiki frowned at the unexpectedly vague answer. "What do you mean maybe?"

"Something is waking up inside it. I know that." Ryoko said "There`s a lot of anger."

"What`s going to happen when it wakes up?" Nabiki asked.

"I don`t know." Ryoko said shaking her head "but it`s safe for now. I put a barrier around this place, and this one goes underground. Nothing can get in without me knowing about it."

Nabiki let it go at that, but silently vowed to find out more later. She wanted to know exactly what the egg is and why Ryoko went to so much trouble to hide it. For the time being though, she couldn`t find out any more and Ryoko would only withdraw more if Nabiki pressed further. So she decided to let the subject drop and change the topic to something else.

"Let`s go inside and when Akane is finished why don`t we take a bath together?" Nabiki suggested

"Really? That`d be fun!" Ryoko readily agreed to Nabiki`s suggestion as her normal, cheery personality returned.

A short time later found both girls in relaxing in the hot water. As they allowed the heat of the water to soak in Ryoko, who had pulled her wings to allow Nabiki enough room in the tub, spoke up about something she had been wondering about since dinner.

"Hey Nabiki? Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot." Nabiki said leaning back in the water with her eyes closed.

"Why is your sister angry with Ranma? And why did she call him a pervert?" Ryoko asked

Nabiki sighed heavily. "That`s not an easy question to answer."

"Try anyway." Ryoko pushed.

"Okay, very long story short: Akane has anger issues and boy troubles. The only thing that kept her from lashing out was her pride as a martial artist."

"So what happened?" Ryoko asked.

"Your brother." Nabiki said before elaborating, "He showed up and proved himself to be a much better martial artist, and some times even a better girl, than Akane. It was only a matter of time before the fights, the insults, the mistrust and the malletings happened."

"That sounds very...lonely." Ryoko said sadly.

Nabiki couldn`t help but notice that her tone suggested some experience with loneliness.

Abruptly the half-demon girl`s mood brightened as she looked at the girl beside her. "At least he has a good friend like you!"

Nabiki cringed a little at the girl`s words. "I`m not really a good friend."

"Sure you are!" Ryoko said "I saw how you took care of him at the park, and you volunteered to let me stay in your room."

Nabiki`s mood darkened. "I`m not a good person Ryoko. I`ve done things I`m not proud of. In some ways, I`ve hurt Ranma more than Akane ever could."

And with those words she got up and left the bathroom leaving Ryoko behind to ponder their meaning.

Sorry about the long wait folks, but hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. If you did take a moment to click that little button down below and submit a review. If you didn`t like the chapter then click that button anyway and tell me why. All reviews go towards the betterment of this fic and your continued enjoyment. Thanks for reading!

Mysterious One D


	9. Curiosity's Reward

Okay, this is the next chapter of this growing little story. I don`t own anything in this story. I am writing this purely for my own amusement and the amusement of others. Have fun and let me know what you think.

Chapter Nine

For Ranma the roof of the Tendo house was virtually the only place he could get a little peace and quiet. There was always the off chance that Kodachi, Happosai or some other random lunatic could find him and bring back the usual craziness of the daytime, but Ranma was willing to take that chance. All he wanted to do was watch the stars, his constant companions since he was only five years old, and contemplate the events of the day.

However, his wishes for solitude went unanswered as he felt, more than heard, another pair of feet hit the rooftop. Craning his head back to see who it was Ranma found his older sister, wings still slightly spread from her landing on the roof.

"Your wings are completely silent you know." Ranma said.

"Yep! I was flying by the time I was four years old, and I was the best hunter in the village by seven." Ryoko said with a smile.

Sitting up, Ranma considered the girl before him for a minute before he spoke again. "What was it like? Growing up in the Amazon village?"

Ryoko took a seat next to her brother as she thought back to the past. "It was...nice. When I was younger the elders treated me like any other little kid. I had friends. You know Shampoo."

"Yeah, I know her all right." Ranma deadpanned.

"There was also this guy, Mousse. He was clumsy and always following around the older girls."

"Heh" Ranma laughed, "sounds like him all right."

Ryoko gave Ranma a questioning look. "You know Mousse?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, he tries to kill me every once in a while."

Ryoko stared at her brother for a moment before she said, "Your life is really strange."

"I`m used to it. I guess." Ranma shrugged. "What about Mom? Did she ever visit?"

"Once." Ryoko said hugging her knees. "When I was seven she came and visited for a year. She said she was really lonely then."

"That was just after I left with Pops on that training journey." Ranma said thinking back.

Deciding to turn Ranma`s question back on him Ryoko asked "What was it like growing up with Dad?"

Ranma thought for a long moment before one word finally came to him. "Hell."

Ryoko was doubtful it was that bad. "Really? Hell? It couldn't have been that bad. You spent ten years with one of our parents. I barely spent more than two years combined with all the time I spent with Mom."

"Yeah, ten years spent with that fat panda." Ranma snorted "You spent ten years living in one place with friends. I spent ten years wandering from town to town. Barely spending more than a week or two in one place. I was fighting people constantly. When I wasn`t fighting someone I was training. Hauling rocks in my backpack. Swimming up raging rivers. Being thrown into a pit of starving animals. And to top it all if off I`m cursed to turn into a girl."

"Turning into a girl isn`t bad at all." Ryoko said, "I get a little brother and a little sister. And my life wasn`t easy either. I spent the last seven years running and hiding from Amazons who want to kill me for taking an important artifact that`s dangerous in a way that I can`t even describe."

Digesting Ryoko`s words and really taking a good look at his sister Ranma could only come to one conclusion "Wow. Our lives are really screwed up."

"I guess they are." Ryoko said. She looked at Ranma as he looked back at her and, as one, they both broke out into uncontrollable laughter.

Inside the house Nabiki was snooping. She couldn`t help it. Part of her nature was to be intensely curious about people who keep secrets. Keeping anything a secret from Nabiki only made her want to know what it is even more. There could be great profit in knowing the right secrets. Since she had agreed to let Ryoko share her room for the time being she was able to sooth her conscience by telling herself she was just trying to get to know her new roommate better.

The girl was very much like her younger brother. She was honest and enthusiastic, but she was also very different. She was extremely cheerful, but Nabiki suspected that a large portion of her cheerfulness was an act. It was a mask to hide her insecurities and loneliness. Nabiki could tell, as her own "Ice Queen" persona served much the same purpose. Just because she acted cheerful and carefree like nothing affected her didn`t mean she was invulnerable. The girl had never met her father or brother until just a couple days ago, and her only contact with her mother for years on end had been through letters. She reminded Nabiki very much of herself.

Nabiki shook her head to clear it of the melancholic thoughts that had crowded her mind. She had some snooping to do. She quietly opened the first of her new roommate`s bags. It contained nothing of any particular interest just some clothes and a few personal items. The second bag Nabiki opened was the more interesting one by far. There were some clothes on top, but those were mostly for protecting the items underneath.

The first item she found was a framed picture of Genma and Nodoka. The picture was fairly old as Genma was thinner and there was some hair poking out from underneath the bandanna he habitually wore. Nodoka looked very much the same as she did currently. The couple was very close together and obviously very happy together.

Setting aside the picture Nabiki found a bundled stack of letters. All of them were addressed to Ryoko from Nodoka. Nabiki held the bundle in her hands for a minute before setting them aside without opening them. Under normal circumstances Nabiki would gladly read the letters searching for interesting or lucrative information, but these letters were from a mother to a daughter. She didn't even consider reading through these as they reminded her too much of the similar stack of letters underneath her own bed. Letters from a daughter to a mother who would never read them. Some things were just too personal even for Nabiki to snoop through.

For the second time that day she forced away melancholic thoughts and brief instances of conscience that warned her to stop and go no further. Refocusing on the task at hand Nabiki continued on. Underneath the letters was where things got really interesting.

There a few books there that looked old and expensive. At first glance the titles of the books looked to be in some ancient language like Latin or something. Nabiki blinked and when she looked again the words had seemed to shift to English. She rubbed her eyes; just to make sure she wasn't seeing things and when she looked a third time the titles were all in plain Japanese.

"Strange." She muttered to herself, "I wonder what these books actually say."

When she opened the cover of one of the books Nabiki couldn't make heads or tails of the actual text inside. The section she read seemed to describe some sort of ritual but what the purpose of the ritual was she couldn't even begin to guess. She set the books aside, as she doubted she could make any more sense out of them. At the bottom of the bag was the most interesting thing Nabiki had found during her snooping session

It was a small box that looked to be made out of wood, really nice wood like mahogany or something. There was a faded paper seal on the box. Nabiki's finger just barely brushed the paper of the seal when the markings faded completely and a small metal latch on the box popped open.

Curiosity overriding her good sense she opened the box. Inside she found a large black egg. Nabiki assumed it must be THE egg, the one that Ryoko had stolen from the Amazons and ran with for ten years on end. On the side of the egg were three small red gems. It didn't seem dangerous at all. It was beautiful and probably worth a fortune. Nabiki silently appraised the egg, trying to ascertain its value. In so doing she ran her hand over the three gems. At which point Nabiki's eyes promptly rolled up into her head and her body crumpled to the ground while her mind and soul left for parts unknown

Nabiki woke to find herself in a strange place. It was like no other place she had ever experienced. The entire landscape around her was grey, like there was no light or darkness. Strangely she could see just fine despite the lack of light, but it didn`t help much that almost the entire landscape around her was the same dull grey with no distinguishing features. The only thing that she could see for who knew how far away was a hallway, or at least what appeared to be a hallway. There were pictures hanging in two rows that more or less made up the entire framework of the hallway. There were no walls, floor or ceiling to hold the pictures in place, just the same flat, grey nothingness that was all around.

With nothing else around and no idea what to do otherwise she decided to head towards the hallway. As she got closer Nabiki could see that the pictures on the non-existent walls were moving. Walking up to the first picture on one side she realized it wasn`t a picture at all, but a memory. All of the pictures were memories. One side was comprised of memories that Nabiki knew and had experienced in her lifetime, while the other side showed memories that Nabiki somehow recognized, but she knew there weren`t her own memories. She had never experienced them, and for the time being she decided to think of them as fake memories.

The first memory picture on the real side was the earliest thing she could remember. It was a family picnic from years ago. She could see Akane talking to their mother about something while Kasumi unpacked the food and Nabiki played with their father. He was smiling and laughing, honestly smiling and laughing like he hadn`t a care in the world. Just for a moment Nabiki realized just how much she missed that side of her Father.

Up ahead there were some darker memories that Nabiki didn`t want to remember. There was the accident, the one event that had shattered their family and emotionally crippled her father. The picture itself was dark, but it brought back the sounds and smells of that day. Tires screeching, metal and glass crashing and the smell of the airbags. Nabiki had to tear herself away before getting lost in that awful moment.

Unfortunately the next memory was almost as bad as the last. It was the funeral that Nabiki remembered all too well. She remembered believing that she had to be strong and not let anybody see how much it hurt. She remembered being so embarrassed by her father`s loud wailing and weeping, that she had decided right then and there to never let her emotions get the best of her. She would not embarrass her mother`s memory by letting others see her pain.

As she walked down the hallway, completely immersed in her old memories she saw and felt herself grow more cold and callous as time passed. She got to Ranma`s arrival at their house, over a year and a half ago. She watched and remembered the horrible things she had done to him. Looking back she cringed at her own greed and selfishness. Finally, she got to the memory of Ranma standing in that alley with blood seeping into his shirt. It was the first time in a very long time when she was truly scared for another human being. Seeing the bleeding Ranma again brought everything into perspective for her.

Her ice-queen person had made her impervious to harm, nothing could get through her armor of ice but it also kept everybody she ever cared about at arm`s length. Her father was an emotional wreck of the man he once was. Too caught up in the past and the future to do anything about the present. Her older sister was stuck in the role of substitute wife and mother, unable to follow her own dreams because of how much her family depend on her being there. Her younger sister had a growing anger and resentment towards others.

As a result she threw herself into her martial arts training, even without a proper teacher to guide her. Her whole world was martial arts and it came crashing down painfully when Ranma had arrived, and brought with him numerous other martial artists who were better than she was. This only fueled her anger, and Kuno`s actions caused Akane to focus this anger and resentment on boys. Nabiki had even fanned the flames by feeding Kuno`s obsession with Akane via her sale of the pictures. Nabiki realized what a mess she had made of her own life, and somehow her justification that it was "all for the good of the family" just didn`t work anymore.

"That`s a nice cushy life you got there."

Nabiki looked around started at the voice. She thought she was the only one here. She spotted a woman near the end of the hall looking at one of Nabiki`s last memories. Nabiki could`ve sworn that the woman had not been there only a few seconds ago, but at the moment she didn`t care where the other woman had come from.

"Excuse me?" Nabiki said putting on the Ice Queen persona one more time.

"Hmm?" The woman looked at her "Oh, it`s nothing. I`m just noting how cushy your normal little life is girlie."

"Cushy? Girlie?" The woman was seriously starting to irritate Nabiki. At the same time she took in the woman`s unusual appearance. She had a wild mane of bluish-silver hair, and golden, cat-like eyes that almost glowed. When she spoke Nabiki even noted that she appeared to have fangs like Ryoga Hibiki.

" Well sure little girl." the strange woman said "You`ve lived a quiet comfy little life with your cozy little family."

Despite having just met her Nabiki was taking an instant dislike to her. Especially since she referred to Nabiki as "little girl" when she herself didn`t look to be any older than twenty to twenty-five tops. She certainly didn`t care for the way she trivialized everything Nabiki had experienced in her life as "quiet" and "comfy."

"I lost my mother when I was seven years old. I watched her wither and die from an illness that nobody could stop. I watched my father fall to pieces and retreat into a hollow shell of the man he once was. I watched my younger sister be consumed by anger while my older one was forced into the role of substitute mother. I have had to scrape, scrounge and do dirty things I`m not proud of just so we can have enough money to put food on the table. I spent the last year kicking myself for a stupid mistake that probably cost me my only chance at happiness, and to top it all off the biggest mob boss in Japan wants me dead."

"Kiddie stuff." the older woman said while Nabiki seethed in anger. "Try this on for size."

The woman took a step in Nabiki`s direction, disappeared and then immediately reappeared much closer right in her face. The woman raised her hand and placed it on her forehead and then it sank _into _her head. Immediately Nabiki`s mind was swarmed with images and recognized the images as the memories she had seen in the hallway, the ones she remembered but weren`t hers. They bombarded her and she clutched her head in agony as the visions swam in her mind.

An image of a woman with spiky red hair cackling wildly and proclaiming "It`s alive!" like some sort of Frankenstein. Fleeing for her life as members of a galactic police force tried to kill the "monstrosity" that the mad woman had brought into the world. Sudden relief as a dark hand rescued her from her pursuers. Quickly followed by terror and dread as the dark force, Nagato was the name that came to mind, enslaved her and forced her to commit acts of terrorism on a galactic scale. Next came the image of a man holding a glowing sword, which was followed, by pain, weakness and a long darkness.

Relief came from an image of a younger boy, looking very much like the man with the sword, who had a ponytail and a kind smile. A sense of wonder and freedom came as the boy struck down the dark Nagato with the same glowing sword she had seen earlier.

More images of the red-haired woman from before, except that now her image was overlaid with that of the woman as a much younger girl. There was the first meeting with the android called Zero, and then the merger that fused their minds, bodies and souls together into one person.

Horror and nausea overwhelmed Nabiki as she relived the activation of a hidden program in Zero that caused her to lash out and kill any one close by. The father and grandfather of the boy with the kind smile were the first. Followed by the clumsy blonde woman and numerous other people. The princesses, her rivals, nearly fell too, but it was the boy with the kind smile that stopped her. Only the kind smile was gone. Replaced by dead eyes as he used wings of light to rip her body to pieces. Nabiki felt the whole process as her body, the woman`s body, was torn apart molecule by molecule. Her last thought before her partner rescued her mind was that she wanted to live again. She didn`t want to die. She would do anything to live again.

The memories stopped as the woman, Nabiki now knew her name to be Ryoko, stepped back and regarded her with a cool look. "Do you understand now? Do know the pain of being forced to kill and maim for the pleasure of others?"

Heedless of the answer Nabiki might have given Ryoko continued on "I lost everything back then, but I`ve finally recovered enough of my strength to live again."

Nabiki, slowly recovering from the onslaught of memories, recalled the android Zero. "You`re going to merge with me."

Ryoko gave her a little grin and spoke again "Well, not so much a merger as a takeover. I don`t need anybody else rattling around up here." she tapped the side of her skull "I just a need a body, and you just happen to have a perfectly good one."

Not wasting another word Ryoko disappeared and reappeared much closer. Nabiki was powerless to do anything. There was nowhere to run to or hide in the featureless landscape all around. She couldn`t talk her way out of it, or even fight back. She felt so powerless and she cursed herself for being weak even as Ryoko put her hands on Nabiki`s shoulders. Ryoko`s hands started to sink in as Nabiki felt herself slipping away. The only thing she could do was utter the name of her last hope. She called out to the one who always came through, no matter what the situation.

"Ranma."

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

A bright, blue orb suddenly streaked through the air and hit Ryoko square in the face. The impact literally ripped the golden-eyed woman away and Nabiki turned her head to see the very last person she would ever think to come to her rescue.

"You called?" Ranma said with his trademark cocky grin firmly in place.

I know this chapter might have confused some people with Ryoko showing up, but I want to stress that the Ryoko interacting with Nabiki in this chapter is Ryoko Hakubi from Tenchi Muyo canon. I am using the Tenchi Muyo OAV`s for reference on Ryoko as I feel that her powers are a little more clearly defined in the OAV`s than in the first anime. I`m going off of the original OAV and the six episode Ryo-Oki OAV that came out a few years ago. This chapter was also a little darker than I intended, but hopefully the bonding between Ranma and his sister offset some of the darkness from the Nabiki stuff. Anyway, please feel free to let me know what you think and look forward to the next chapter. I promise it won`t take me another two months to get out the next chapter.

Mysterious One D


	10. Innerspace

Another new chapter for The Secrets We Keep. Sorry to keep you all waiting for this, but it turns out unemployment has a very negative effect on my motivation to write. Thankfully that situation has been resolved, though it does leave me very little time to actually get these chapters typed up. Please read and enjoy, and if you're so inclined drop me a review.

Legal stuff: I own nothing but Ryoko Saotome.

Chapter 10

Ranma looked down at his older sister who had fallen asleep beside him. Looking down at the quietly sleeping half-demon girl, he thought that perhaps life wasn't so bad. If this is what it meant to have a sister, to have someone who cares for him unconditionally, that was something he could deal with.

Unfortunately life has an unusual way of throwing chaos into perfectly normal situations. The peaceful night and moment of bonding between brother and sister was broken as Ryoko Saotome, self-proclaimed master of anything goes magical arts, sat bolt upright from her previous reclining position next to her brother.

"What`s wrong?" Ranma asked with concern in his voice.

"No, no, no" Ryoko muttered, "The seal broke! Not now!"

"Sis? You gotta tell me what`s wrong." Ranma`s concern was growing. In his experience, magic was rarely a pleasant thing.

Ryoko looked at her brother with near panic in her eyes. "We have to get down there. Something bad is happening in Nabiki`s room."

Not needing to hear any more Ranma jumped off the roof and ran inside the house with Ryoko following close behind. They rushed up the stairs to Nabiki's room. Bursting in they found Nabiki unconscious and sprawled out on the floor with the black egg clutched in one hand.

Immediately Ranma's battle hardened senses could tell that something about the egg was _wrong_, as in _magical wrong_. Ranma bent down to examine it, but before he could get too close Ryoko stopped him.

"Don't touch it." She warned. "It's very dangerous."

Ranma looked up at her. "You know what this is? Where it came from?"

Ryoko looked afraid. "Where it came from, yes. I had it in one of my bags. It's the egg I took from the Amazon village. What it is though…I don't know."

Ranma cursed. Amazon magic was never a pleasant thing to deal with.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Akane asked from the doorway. She had seen Ranma and Ryoko burst into Nabiki's room, and was naturally quite curious. Peering further into the room she spotted Nabiki's body lying on the floor. "Nabiki? What happened to her?"

"I'm going to find out." Ryoko said as she crouched down near Nabiki. Her hands glowed and a few strange signs appeared in the air as she made some complex movements with her fingers.

After a few short moments she turned to look at Ranma and Akane. "There's a mana link between Nabiki and the egg. As near as I can tell it's keeping her in some sort of magically induced coma."

Grasping the basics of what his sister just said Ranma spoke up. "If she's in a coma than all we gotta do is wake her up right?"

Ryoko considered his words for a moment before she spoke again. "Yes and no. Nabiki's soul is inside the egg right now. If we wake her up or break the mana link as it is right now her soul might end up trapped in the egg and she would die."

"So what do we do?" Akane asked from her position in the doorway. "How do we help her?"

"Somebody needs to go in after her." Ryoko said simply. "I'm pretty sure I can create another mana link with the egg, one that I can control and end when I want to. I can send somebody after her. Probably somebody she has a strong connection with."

Ranma and Ryoko both looked at Akane who was frozen in the doorway. She knew what they were going to ask, but she didn't want any part of it.

"This is magic." Akane said stating the obvious "I can't deal with magic. This magic crap is all your fault Ranma."

Ranma looked at her for a few seconds, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. Ranma swallowed his disappointment, but turned back to Nabiki. He was the only one who could help her now. This would just be one more fight he would take on and win. He would bring Nabiki back.

"I'm going."

Ryoko nodded in affirmation and proceeded to focus back on Nabiki. "I'll make the link. When you're ready touch Nabiki and the egg at the same time."

Ranma nodded once, and took Nabiki's free hand. He then reached out for the egg in her other hand. His fingers lightly traced the three red gems as Nabiki's had, and he felt a slight pulling sensation before his world went dark.

Elsewhere, Nabiki It was like a scene out of an American action movie. Ranma was standing in front of her while staring down the woman called Ryoko. Neither of them were moving, just staring at each other and likely sizing up their mutual threat potential.

"What are you doing here Ranma? How did you get here?" Nabiki asked

Not taking his eyes off his opponent Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders. "I don`t know. Sis said something about a link, and your soul in the egg. Then she did some magic thing and here I am."

"You shouldn't be here." Nabiki said, "You can't fight her."

"There ain't nobody I can't fight." Ranma snapped back "She's trying to hurt my friend, and I can't let her do that."

Ryoko broke the stare down, her eyes quickly moving to Nabiki but just as quickly switching back to Ranma. "You should listen to the girlie. You can`t beat me. Not here and not you. You don`t belong here."

Ranma just continued to smile that same, infuriatingly smug smile. "I`ll take that as a challenge, and I like a challenge."

"Don't say I didn't warn you kid." Ryoko said, and with that she sank into the blank whiteness that served as the ground of this particular landscape around them.

Ranma slowly walked over to where Ryoko had been. All his senses were on alert and he was waiting for something to happen. Even so, the last thing he expected was for a large hand to shoot out of the ground and try to capture him. He managed to dodge out of the way as the rest of a large-scale version of Ryoko formed out of the ground.

The body was formed of the same white nothingness that made up everything except for the people in the area. Ranma studied the giant figure carefully as he evaded its attempts to grab him or pummel him. He soon came to the conclusion that it was more than just show. The giant Ryoko moved just as fluidly and as fast as its normal-scale counterpart. In the giant body Ryoko didn`t flies like she had before, but she didn`t need to. The sheer size of the fake body gave it more than enough range to make trouble for Ranma. He twisted and turned, moving in unpredictable directions to dodge the various blows that came from the giant body.

From her position a short ways away from the battle Nabiki watched with dread as giant blows came heart-stoppingly close to hitting Ranma. Not for the first time Nabiki wished that there was something she could do. Some way she could help besides being a spectator as events unfolded around her. She knew she was useless as she currently was, and she cursed herself for her weakness. She didn`t want to see Ranma get hurt on her behalf. Not again.

For his part Ranma wasn`t worried very much. In her current form Ryoko was fast, had great reach, and was very tricky to fight due to her large form. However, it was also this large form that was the greatest weakness, and exploiting weakness was one of the founding principals of Anything Goes martial arts. Ranma waited for the giant to swing a punch at him, one that he dodged by only the barest minimum in order to grab hold of the hand as it was retracted. Quickly getting his feet underneath him Ranma ran up the length of the arm until he was just above the elbow joint.

Ryoko tried to shake him off, but he just grabbed on with his arms. He swung around so he was holding on to the back of her arm. He lashed out with a hard double kick to the elbow, which forced Ryoko's arm to bend the wrong way, which elicited a howl of pain from her.

Teeth clenched in pain Ryoko growled out. "That does it! No more Ms. Nice Ryoko."

With that she phased her real body out of the giant body, which promptly lost cohesion and faded back into the white nothingness that it came from.

Ranma landed lightly and studied Ryoko for a moment before she launched an energy blast at him. Ranma rolled out of the way of that blast and the one following it.

Undeterred Ryoko launched energy blasts, one right after another as fast as she could. Fast as he was, Ranma was hard pressed to stay ahead. Of course, this didn't stop his tactical mind from working through various combat strategies.

Settling on one he began to move in a zigzag pattern, making himself as difficult a target to hit as possible. He slowly closed the distance between himself and Ryoko. When he was within a few feet Ryoko fired a particularly large blast at Ranma. She quickly followed that with two smaller blasts to either side of him to cut off his escape options. The three blasts hit nearly simultaneously resulting in a large release of energy and a pressure wave.

Ranma was already in the air jumping over the blast when it hit. He rode the pressure wave to maximize the height of his jump. Coming down he set himself up for an axe kick that impact with a massive amount of force.

Tracking Ranma as he vaulted up and above her energy blasts, Ryoko had just enough time to summon an energy blast to the palm of her hand. Closing her hand around the glowing orb caused it to expand into a long bar of energy which she held up lengthwise to intercept the axe kick.

Ranma, guessing correctly that the bar of energy was a bad thing, quickly shunted as much ki as he could to his leg. The axe kick became a blazing meteor kick as he descended.

There was a clash of energy as ki-fueled meteor kick met energy blade. The opposing forces were so strong that Ranma nearly seemed to hover in mid-air as the two energies vied for dominance. Ryoko broke the stalemate by becoming intangible and releasing her energy sword.

Momentum took over from there and Ranma continued to fall forward and through Ryoko. He caught himself on his hands and continued his assault on the now tangible Ryoko with a barrage of kicks while walking on his hands.

Ryoko was able to fend off his kicks with her right arm while she formed an energy sword in her left hand. She stabbed down towards Ranma's head, but only hit air as he flipped away.

"You missed me." Ranma taunted.

A slightly evil smile appeared on Ryoko's face. "Did I?"

She vanished and reappeared right behind Ranma. With all his martial arts enhanced reaction time the only thing he could do was turn his head before Ryoko's energy sword tore through his shoulder.

"Ranma!" Nabiki screamed in horror as she raced to his side.

Ryoko released her energy sword, which somehow stayed solid, and walked away.

"Now do you get it little girl?" Ryoko called over her shoulder. "He can't win here. He's only delaying the inevitable."

Nabiki ignored Ryoko's comments as she tried to inspect Ranma's wound, but he batted her hand away.

"I'm all right." Ranma said through gritted teeth, obviously lying "I just need to get this thing outta my shoulder and then I can go back and kick her ass."

"Ranma you can't fight like this. You have a sword in your arm."

"It's just a flesh wound." Ranma tried to give Nabiki his best cocky smile, but it came out more as a grimace of pain.

"Hold still." Nabiki said as she reached for the energy sword.

"Don't touch it." Ranma warned.

Nabiki ignored him as reached towards the energy sword. She braced herself for pain, but was surprised as her hand closed around the bar of energy without any ill effects. With barely any effort at all she pulled the blade from his shoulder.

"Ranma, do you trust me?" Nabiki asked

"This ain`t really the time for that." Ranma said with a wince "Case you didn`t notice I kinda got a thing goin` on here with the crazy lady."

Nabiki put her hand on Ranma`s shoulder to stop him from going back to the fight. "You don`t understand Ranma. It`s just like she said YOU can`t win here."

"Bull!" Ranma spat "Ranma Saotome doesn`t lose."

Nabiki resisted the urge to punch him as she tried to get him to understand "Not this time. If we were out in the real world then you might stand a chance, but this isn`t the real world"

She gestured to the flat, lifeless terrain surrounding them. "This isn`t real. It`s all in my mind, or maybe her mind and mine. I don`t know, but this isn`t really happening."

Nabiki watched Ranma as he mentally processed this for a few seconds.

"You`re saying" he started "that you and her are locked in some kind of brain battle?"

"Yes!" Nabiki practically cheered "We`re connected. She knows everything I know, and everything I've ever seen she's seen. That includes all your moves."

"Okay, makes as much sense as any other crazy, messed up thing that happens." Ranma said, "So, you got some sorta plan to deal with it?"

Nabiki turned Ranma`s head so she could look him in the eye. "I do. Sort of."

Ranma gave Nabiki a questioning look. "Sort of?"

"It's a hunch and I think it's right, but there's a catch. You have to trust me."

Ranma broke her gaze and sighed "You know that ain`t easy right? After everything"

"Look at me Ranma" Nabiki said. "I'm sorry I treated as badly as I did. I really am, and now I'm asking for your help."

Ranma looked at her, really looked at her, and saw the truth reflected in her eyes. "Apology accepted. Now what do we do about her?" He jabbed a finger at Ryoko.

The woman in question was standing a short ways off looking quite bored. "Are you done with your little talk?" she called "I gave you your little romantic good-bye but now it's time to end this."

Nabiki gave the woman a quick glance and then did something that Ranma was completely unprepared for. She pulled his face towards hers and kissed him. There was a flash of light, and where once two people stood there now was only one person. She was female and dressed in the same red and black outfit as Ranma had been. Her features were a blend of the two people who were previously standing in her position.

"What the hell just happened?" Ryoko asked with shock "What did you do?"

The new woman looked over at Ryoko and flashed her a cocky grin. "Nabiki couldn`t beat you here, she didn`t have the strength. Ranma couldn`t do it either because he didn`t have the right."

She shot forward like a missile and struck out with a large volley of incredibly fast punches. "Together we have both the strength and the right."

Ryoko crossed her arms in front of her to block the punches, but as soon as she did so her opponent dropped one arm.

Nabiki/Ranma channeled ki to her/his off-hand and focused it to a knife-like point. Having seen Ryoko`s memories she/he knew what she/he needed to do.

Ryoko realized what was about to happen, but was powerless to stop it. The attack came so quickly that all she could was watch as Nabiki/Ranma slashed at her hands with the knife-hand. She/he cut through Ryoko's guarding arms, just below the wrist joint and severed her hands. Nabiki/Ranma immediately left off her/his attack, and Ryoko used the break to regenerate her hands. However, the damage was done. Once separated from her arms the severed hands faded into energy leaving behind two, small, red gems.

Nabiki/Ranma picked up the gems and stepped away. There was another flash of light, and where there was once one there was now two. Nabiki and Ranma now stood side by side with the latter showing no signs of any injury to his shoulder.

Nabiki looked down at her hand, which held the two red gems, and then over at Ranma. "Thank you." she said.

"Um, for what?" Ranma asked. "You ki-kissed me and then..." He trailed off looking very confused.

"It`s okay." Nabiki said, "She's done. You can go back now."

Ranma started to protest, but Nabiki silenced him with a finger to his lips. She pushed lightly on his chest and Ranma faded away as his consciousness returned to the real world. And then it was just the two women left standing in the empty void.

"So I guess this is it for me, huh girlie?" Ryoko tried to sound disinterested, even in her own fate, but there was a clear undercurrent of fear in her voice.

Nabiki looked at the jewels in her hand, and considered the memories she had of the other woman's life. Years spent in isolation in space and then trapped in a cave. She had lived life of violence with only a brief time of happiness and finally ending with more violence and isolation. It was a sad and lonely existence, and Nabiki held the means to make it all go away.

Nabiki understood very well what Ryoko wanted. She just wanted a life of her own, to live as she pleased. She wanted freedom.

Nabiki came to a decision and the gems in her hands faded away. She walked towards Ryoko to look her in the eyes.

"You have so much power. So much freedom."

"I had less freedom than you'd think girlie." Ryoko said "I just want to live my life."

"At the cost of mine?" Nabiki asked.

"If that's what it takes." Ryoko said coldly.

Nabiki began walking around the other woman. "Some people call me an ice queen. They call me a mercenary or an extortionist. I prefer to think of myself as a businesswoman. I make deals."

"And you want to make a deal with me girlie?" Ryoko was trying to act indifferent, but Nabiki knew she was backed into a corner with two of her gems in Nabiki's possession.

"Let's call it a partnership." Nabiki said "You've seen the company I keep. I'm just an ordinary woman surrounded by people who can do extraordinary things. I want to know what that's like. I want to be able to do extraordinary things."

"And what do I get in return?" Ryoko asked.

"Life." Nabiki said simply.

"What exactly are you offering here?"

Nabiki opened her hand and the gems briefly reappeared before fading away again.

"We merge. Just like you did with Zero. You live as me and I live as you."

"You already know I want more than that. What if I just take over?" Ryoko formed an energy sword to reinforce her point.

Paying no mind to the threat Nabiki advanced on Ryoko. "Sorry, I'm not that nice of a person. Either take my offer or I go back to the real world and I bury the egg so deep it won't be found for thousands of years."

Nabiki let the threat hang in the air for a moment before her expression softened. "You won't fade away. I promise. Deal?"

She offered her hand to the older woman.

Ryoko hesitated, but in the end there was only one choice. Without saying a word she took the hand offered to her. There was a rush of sound and sensations as two people became one. When it was done a single consciousness returned to reality.

Back in the real world Ranma`s eyes opened as his mind returned to his body. He took a look around the room and discovered that while he had been with Nabiki; the rest of the Tendo and Saotome families had somehow squeezed themselves into Nabiki`s room.

"What happened? Is it over? Did it work? Will my baby daughter be okay?" Soun hammered Ranma with questions while the rest of the group looked to him for answers.

Ranma opened his mouth to try to explain what had just happened, which was a difficult prospect as he didn`t really understand the last few moments of his experience. Thankfully he was spared from this duty by a groan from Nabiki.

"She`s waking up!" Kasumi said excitedly.

Soun`s attention was instantly riveted exclusively to his middle daughter. "Nabiki! Can you hear me, Nabiki? NABIKI!"

"Stop shouting Daddy." Nabiki groaned as she sat up. "I`m all right. I just have a killer headache."

She opened her eyes and looked at the assembled group. "I`m okay. Sorry to worry everyone."

Nabiki was quite unprepared for her words to be met with stunned silence and astonished looks. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Is that...really you Nabiki?" Akane whispered.

"Of course it`s me." Nabiki said, "Why are you asking me that?"

In response to her question Kasumi left the room and quickly returned with a small hand mirror. She gave the mirror to her younger sister without a word.

"What is it? Is my hair messed... up... or..." the words died on Nabiki`s lips as she caught sight of herself in the mirror. For the past eighteen years whenever Nabiki looked into a mirror she would always see her own chocolate brown eyes staring back at her. Now she saw a pair of golden, cat-like eyes staring back at her. In addition to this one side of Nabiki`s favored "page-boy" haircut now sported a streak of bluish-silver hair. She ran her tongue over her teeth, and then pulled back her lip for a better inspection and found that her canine teeth had lengthened and sharpened into fangs. Upon inspecting her wrists she found a small, red gem embedded in each and one embedded right at the center of her collarbone.

After a moment of stunned silence Nabiki finally gave voice to the only thought running through her head at the moment. "Well, that`s going to take some getting used to."

Author's Note:

This was the most ambitious fight scene I ever tried to write. This was also the longest chapter I ever tried to write. I think it turned out pretty well, and hopefully you all agree.

One note to any Akane fans that might be reading this: there is a point to Akane's actions in this chapter. I'm not writing her as a coward for the sake of cowardice.

Finally, I want to give a big thanks to all my readers. It`s you guys that motivate me to actually write this story and not just leave it stuck in my head. Stay tuned for more. Until next time my loyal readers.

Mysterious One D


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